PUPILS from Maidstone's Invicta Grammar School have designed a futuristic house in which vacuum cleaners work by themselves and robots sort out the laundry.

The bad news is that the house is not real it only exists on the Internet. It was the winning entry in a competition to design a website which informs people about a new or controversial idea.

They won a drum kit and two digital cameras for their school as top prize in the Big Idea website competition, run by Channel Four and the Institution of Electrical Engineers.

Year 11 pupils Polly Green, Rachel Holcroft, Kirsty Gibbons, Sarah Thomas and Laura Harding's entry showed what a computerised house might look like.

Head teacher Sue Glanville said: "They tried to anticipate what a house would look like when IT is developed in 10 years' time.

"The fridge is operated by remote control, the computerised vacuum cleaner works by itself and there is a robot for the washing."

Their design will be available on Channel Four's Ideasfactory website at the end of November, www.channel4.com/ideasfactory