A spectacular festival returns to entertain and amaze Swindonians next month.

The Festival of Tomorrow will feature its largest-ever range of activities and events all over the town from February 9 to 18.

Festivalgoers of all ages will be able to explore the universe with a planetarium show, race a hydrogen fuel-cell car, programme a robot vehicle, delve into the science of health, make some space-inspired art or try out Intel’s latest e-sports gaming gear.

A nine-meter-long inflatable robotic snail called Luma will meet Steam Museum visitors and offer a variety of different experiences on each day, like making snail slime and robot snail racers, trying multi-sensory experiments, and watching action-packed mini shows full of fizzes, bubbles, and mayhem.

McArthur Glen Designer Outlet shoppers can look around Neon Dance and Bristol Robotics Lab’s Mechanical Bloom area with experiments themed around robotics and nature from February 11 to 16, with augmented reality space-themed models hidden around the centre.

The programme includes evening entertainment for teens and adults for the first time, including a comedy night with Sam Michael and Robin Ince, a special Sofa Screening of sci-fi thriller Moon, and Neon Dance’s live contemporary dance performance set to the visuals of sci-fi film Last and First Men.

Families can register at www.festivaloftomorrow.com to secure free spots at the finale event in The Deanery CE Academy on Friday, February 16, and Saturday, February 17, which includes four interactive discovery zones packed with demonstrations, exhibits, activities, and workshops.

Tickets for under 18s are free for all finale talks and shows, though under-16s must be accompanied by an adult ticketholder.

Other events, talks, panel discussions, and family shows featuring in the festival include The Royal Institution’s spectacular Energy Live show, Braintastic Science’s Amazing Animals experience, juggling scientist Dr Ken’s Circus Science, and Ian Russell’s experiment-packed Exploding Custard.

For adults and teenagers, Mark Horton and a panel of scientists will talk about how drones are being used to grow food in war-torn Ukraine, festival director Dr Rod Hebden and a team of other experts will talk about the divide between art and science, BBC Radio science journalist Roland Pease will discuss the latest developments in robotics and AI, and Rosalind Franklin Institute members will talk about how the science of our cells could improve medicine.