Boone County Public Library has announced that a 5,000-square-foot traveling children’s exhibit based on the popular book, The Robot Zoo, will be on display at the Main Library, 1786 Burlington Pike, in Burlington, from October 5 to February 28.
The exhibit uses the biomechanics of giant robot animals to illustrate how real animals work.
Robot Zoo is one of the most popular exhibitions ever to tour science centers and natural history museums. It has appeared in major venues across the globe, such as the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis and the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia.
This is the first time this exhibit has been installed in a library. The museums that exhibited The Robot Zoo all charged admission. It will be on display, free of charge at Boone County Public Library.
The exhibit includes giant robot animals and hands-on activities designed for children from ages 4 to 12. Some of the exhibit’s interactive experiences include:
Chameleon Tongue Gun — Triggering the Tongue Gun demonstrates how a real chameleon shoots out its long, sticky-tipped tongue to reel in a meal. Use a joystick to aim the head of a robot chameleon, then press a button to fire its long tongue at one of several insect targets.
Race a Squid — Pump air into a squid model and propel it up a tube to simulate the high-speed swim of a giant squid. Race the four squids to the finish line!
Eye to Eye — Stand behind a 5-foot-tall cutout of a house fly and get a fly’s-eye view through two 19-inch compound eyes. A real house fly can’t see fine details unless it’s up close, but its eyes (each with about 4,000 six-sided lenses) can detect even the slightest movement in all directions.
The Robot Zoo provides new insights and hands-on fun for discovering just how animals work. The Robot Zoo exhibit at Boone County Public Library is sponsored by Duke Energy.
The Robot Zoo Fact Sheet
What: The Robot Zoo is a traveling children’s exhibit that reveals the biomechanics of giant robot animals to illustrate how real animals work.
Where: Boone County Public Library 1786 Burlington Pike, Burlington, KY
859-342-BOOK (2665) www.bcpl.org
When: October 5, 2015 through February 28, 2016
Hours: Mon – Fri: 9 a.m. – 9 p.m. Sat: 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Sun: 1 p.m. – 5 p.m.
Size: 5,000 square feet
Admission: Free
Highlights: Eight giant robot animals and more than a dozen hands-on activities reveal the magic of nature as a master engineer.
Robot Body Shop – As an introduction to the exhibit, drum-mounted machine parts allow visitors to manipulate some of the mechanical devices they will see used to construct the robots, such as hinges, pumps, springs and shock absorbers.
Chameleon Activity Stations – Visitors get to control the giant robotic chameleon. At the three different stations, one can change its color; move its body, head, eyes and tongue. Chameleons change color for two reasons, to hide from an enemy or to attract or scare another chameleon.
Tongue Gun – Triggering a joystick on the model of a robot chameleon’s head fires a long tongue at insect targets to show how the reptile catches food.
Race a Squid – Visitors can pump air into a squid model and propel it up a tube to simulate the high-speed swim of a giant squid. Visitors will enjoy racing these four squids to the finish line. The real creature sucks water into its body and squirts the water out a small tube under its head, shooting away backwards at up 20 miles per hour.
Hear’s Seeing You – When visitors aim the robot bat’s head at insect targets, a digital display reveals the distance to each bug to demonstrate echolocation—a bat’s sonar system for hunting prey at night.
Swat the Fly – This activity tests participants’ reaction time (about one-twelfth as fast a house fly’s). Visitors use their hands to “swat” each fly as it lights up.
Sticky Feet – Visitors can experience what it’s like to be a fly on the wall, using fly shaped hands on a carpeted wall.
Robot Animals: Chameleon (10’ long) Rhinoceros (9’ long)
Giant squid (6’ long, 18’ tentacles) Platypus (9’ long)
House fly (6’ long, 10’ wingspread) Grasshopper (9’ long)
Giraffe (shown head and neck, 9’ tall) Bat (6’ head to tail)
Boone County Public Library