Professor Larry Hench with the latest Boing Boing prototype being introduced into schools

This latest funding follows support from the Armourers and Braziers Company for Professor Larry Hench's cross-curricular story-based teaching programme, designed to stimulate interest in science and engineering.

The two year public awareness grant from the EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council) begins in July. It will be used to fund a research manager who will work one day a week at Imperial, focusing on coordinating with primary schools and professional societies' outreach programmes.

Jill Nelson, programme director for the British Association for the Advancement of Science, will act as a mentor for the project, helping the Imperial team expand the project in British schools.

Larry Hench, professor of ceramic materials and co-director of the Imperial College centre for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, has been demonstrating the prototypes to schools.

"We are delighted with this grant which is part of EPSRC's plan to focus on literacy, science and numeracy, aimed at helping youngsters think creatively to understand technology," he said. "One hundred Boing Boing kits will soon be distributed to 16 primary schools and we can now integrate hands-on robotic projects with story books and work books."

Boing Boing Discovery Kits, aimed at eight and nine year olds, range from teaching simple mechanical linkages - if you pull Boing Boing's tail, its legs move - to incorporating motor and batteries and a small computer which teaches storage of electrical energy, how a motor works and how information is stored.

The latest book about the robotic cat, created for a boy named Daniel who is allergic to cat fur, will be published next month, and is entitled Boing Boing and the Lion's Claws. For details, visit: www.boing-boing.org.