GIRAFFE
Size: Shown head and neck only, 9 feet tall
Exhibit setting: The robot giraffe welcomes visitors to The Robot Zoo. The robot’s head and neck protrude from a cartoon-like factory window at the exhibit entrance.
Animation: The robot’s head and neck lean forward and backward, the head turns left and right, and the eyes blink as they look around.
| Robot parts: | Real animal equivalents: |
| Moveable acoustic receptors to follow sound | Ears |
| Buffers | Horns |
| Visual receptors | Eyes |
| Long, flexible pad for grabbing food and water | Tongue |
| Files for grinding up tough plants | Back teeth |
| Air inlets | Nostrils |
| Sharp blades for snipping leaves | Front teeth |
| Air intake pipe | Trachea |
| Flexible tube down which food is squeezed | Esophagus |
| High-pressure flexible tubing | Blood vessels |
| Valves that stop fluid from falling back down the tubing (neck) between the beats of the pump | Valves in blood vessels |
| Flexible framework to support the neck | Neck vertebrae |
| Piston holding the neck onto the shoulder moves in and out so neck moves up or down | Muscle |
The real animal:
Giraffes are the world’s tallest animals. From a towering vantage point, a giraffe can spot danger miles away. If a lion or hyena approaches, the herd clusters together for safety. After the danger passes, adults spread out to browse. While their mothers are away, young giraffes form a group and are guarded by other “baby-sitting” females that stay behind.
Giraffes roam the savannas of Africa in loose, open herds of females and youngsters. Adult males usually roam alone. With their long necks, giraffes browse tall trees–even thorny acacias. Protected by tough skin flaps, a flexible upper lip and an 18-inch tongue pluck choice morsels from between thorns.
RHINOCEROS
Size: 9 feet long
Exhibit setting: As an introduction to the exhibit, visitors enter the factory workshop or “body shop” of this robot rhino under construction. Colorful wall-mounted panels present a glossary of robot parts found throughout the exhibit.
Animation: Exhibit-goers can use a winch to hoist the robot’s head up and lower it into position on the body.
| Robot parts: | Real animal equivalents: |
| Strong casings for electrical fibers | Vertebrae surrounding spinal cord |
| Robot armor maintenance device | Oxpecker bird cleans mites and ticks from the rhino’s skin |
| Pivotal acoustic receptors | Moveable ears |
| Solid casing to protect the computer | Thick skull protecting the brain |
| Miniature visual receptors | Small eyes |
| Defensive spike | Horn |
| Grass cropper | Lips |
| Smell inlets | Nostrils |
| Food grinders | Teeth |
| Three extra-strong supports | Toes ending in rounded hooves |
| Shock-absorbing pad | Flattened foot |
| Hinge joints with large pistons for movement | Femur, tibia |
| Fly swatter | Tail |
| Ball and socket joint | Hip joint anchored into the pelvis |
| Filtering pipe | Intestines |
| Food processor | Stomach |
The real animal:
After the elephant, white rhinos are the next biggest land animal. They belong to a group of hoofed animals called ungulates, and in Africa the rhino’s closest relative is the zebra.
This rhino roams grassy savannas alone or in small groups. It’s often seen with one or more small birds called oxpeckers. Oxpeckers hop about a rhino’s back picking insects from the skin and squawking at signs of danger. The bird gets a meal and the rhino gets rid of pests.
CHAMELEON
Size: 10 feet long
Exhibit setting: The robot chameleon stands on a branch in the treetops.
Animation: On the robot’s head the eyes move around in all directions and the tongue moves in and out toward an insect. The head itself nods and turns left and right. The whole body of the robot rocks back and forth.
| Robot parts: | Real animal equivalents: |
| Protective spikes | Spines, warts and horns |
| Video screens show color patterns | Color cells (chromatophores) lie beneath the scales |
| Joints for movement of rear legs | Hip joints |
| Flexible framework protecting electrical fibers | Vertebrae of spine |
| Coiled flexible tubing | Vent or cloaca |
| Waste disposal unit | Prehensile, or gripping, tail |
| Clamps | Five toes per foot: back feet with three toes outside, two inside; front feet with two toes outside, three inside |
| Food processor | Stomach |
| Vessel holding acid for foodprocessor | Digestive gland |
| Food intake pipe | Esophagus |
| Air intake pipe | Trachea |
| Spring-loaded mechanism | Muscles springing and retrieving the tongue |
| Spring coil | Extended tongue |
| Spike threaded through the spring coil | Bone within the tongue |
| Flypaper | Sticky tongue end |
| Air and scent inlets | Nostrils |
| Visual receptors | Eyes |
| Protective sleeves for visual receptors | Eyelids fused together |
| Universal joints for visual receptors | Eye muscles allow the eyes to move in all directions |
| Electrical control fibers | Nerve bundles |
| Mini-computer | Brain |
The real animal:
Chameleons are a highly specialized group of lizards, well adapted to life in the trees. The gripping (prehensile) tail works like another foot, helping the chameleon hold on. When not in use, it curls up out of the way.
PLATYPUS
Size: 9 feet long
Exhibit setting: The robot platypus forages for food under the water alongside a riverbank. Environments above and below the water’s surface are visible, including a robotic dragonfly buzzing above the submersed robot. Visitors can hear the ambient sounds of water splashing and birds chirping.
Animation: The robot turns its head left and right. Its front legs swim in breaststroke style and its tail moves up and down.
| Robot parts: | Real animal equivalents: |
| Air and smell inlets | Nostrils |
| Multipurpose food finder and grasper | Beak-like snout or duckbill |
| Passive electromagnetic field receptors | Electrical sensors |
| Protective covers over acoustic & visual receptors | Lids cover eyes and ears when under water |
| Computer | Brain |
| Large piston | Shoulder muscle for moving front legs |
| Food processor | Stomach |
| Protective bumpers | Ribs |
| Insulating and waterproof covering | Fur |
| Waste disposal unit | Cloaca |
| Rudder | Flattened tail with fat storage |
| Poison injector | In males and only young females; a poison spur that adult males use in fights with other males |
| Poison container | Only in males, the poison-producing gland in each upper thigh |
| Egg-producing machine | Only in females, the left ovary produces eggs |
| Filtering pipe | Large intestine taking nutrients from digested food |
| Extendible flipper | Webbing folds out in water and tucks back on land |
| Mechanized hand | Front foot |
| Food storage vessel | Cheek pouch |
| Structural support | Bone support to snout |
| Electrical control fibers | Nerve system |
| Tactile pressure sensors | Sense endings |
The real animal:
When the first platypus specimens arrived in Europe 200 years ago, scientists thought they were fakes. They couldn’t believe an animal could have a bill like a duck’s, a tail like a beaver’s, be covered with fur and lay eggs.
HOUSE FLY
Size: 6 feet long, 10-foot wingspread
Exhibit setting: The robot is feeding on a wedge of cheese that sits on top of a checkered tablecloth.
Animation: The head rotates left and right and nods up and down. Two gyroscopes (balance sensors) on the fly’s back rotate continuously. The wings move from the fly’s back to a position perpendicular with the body.
Robot parts: Real animal equivalents:
| Robot parts: | Real animal equivalents: |
| Tough, flexible material stretched over struts | Strong membrane |
| Tubing to the food distributor | Esophagus |
| Gyroscope used as a balance sensor | Hind wing, or haltere, sending balance information |
| Nutrient distributor | Midgut from where digested foods are sent to body parts |
| Waste disposal tubing | Intestines |
| Rigid outer casing for support and shape | Exoskeleton |
| Air inlets | Spiracles |
| Sensory pads with hooked end for extra grip | Clinging feet with taste organs on them |
| Cleaning brush used for grooming | Bristles on inside of legs |
| Sensory feelers | Hairs that act as sense organs for touch |
| Hollow tubes with flexible joints | Legs |
| Vacuum-like suction nozzle | Wide mouthpart called a labium |
| Suction tube | Proboscis |
| Containers for substances to break down food | Digestive juices gland |
| Antenna extensions for gathering information | Antennae sense food and enemies |
| Multiple visual receptors | Compound eyes |
| Individual visual receptor pointing in a specific direction | One part of whole eye |
| Microchip system | Nerve center called a ganglion, similar to a simple brain |
| Pivotal hinge system to allow maximum movement | Wing muscles |
| Strut supports for wings | Tubular veins containing blood |
The real animal:
A fly’s head contains the eyes and mouth. The mid-section, or thorax, has three pairs of jointed legs and a pair of wings. A hind section, the abdomen, holds all the other body organs. Most of the body is covered with tiny hairs. The outer skin, or cuticle, is stiff and shell-like and forms an outer skeleton, or exoskeleton.
House flies have a reputation for being filthy, and they are. Because they walk on their food and aren’t picky about what they eat, they often carry decaying material and bacteria from meal to meal.
GRASSHOPPER
Size: 9 feet long
Exhibit setting: The robot grasshopper stands next to a child’s marble among 7-foot-tall blades of grass.
Animation: The robot’s right and left antennae move independently and its mouth opens and closes. The two hind legs move forward and backward independently.
| Robot parts: | Real animal equivalents: |
| Mini-computers used for gathering information | Ganglion |
| Food storage tank | Crop |
| Pivotal hinge system for wing maneuverability | Muscles |
| Pump & tubing to move fluids around the body | Heart and blood system |
| Air inlets | Spiracles |
| Flight enablers | Wings |
| Waste disposal unit | Anus |
| Hinge joints allow legs to bend | Knees |
| Massive springs used to launch into the jump | Muscles |
| Rough ridges for making a chirping noise | Stridulatory pegs on male grasshoppers |
| Tubes with pistons inside for movement | Legs |
| Vessels that produce chemicals to break down food | Digestive glands |
| Supports for standing, but not for gripping | Feet called pretarsals |
| Flexible sections in tubing to allow for bending | Joints |
| Pincers to hold food | Jaws called maxilla |
| Crushers to chew food | Jaws called mandibles |
| Individual visual sensor pointing in a specific direction | One part of whole eye |
| Multiple visual receptors | Compound eyes |
| Sensory receptors that detect nearby objects by touch, also have scent receptors to provide additional information | Antennae |
The real animal:
Like all insects, a grasshopper’s body is divided into three sections–head, thorax and abdomen. The head’s two antennae feel and smell what’s nearby. Two compound eyes with hundreds of individual “eyelets” watch for danger. Instead of a brain, a grasshopper has bundles of nerves, called ganglia, throughout its body.
A grasshopper’s mouth has moveable jaws that move from side to side rather than up and down. The abdomen has 10 overlapping sections, each with a breathing hole (spiracle) on either side of the body.
BAT
Size: 6 feet head to tail
Exhibit setting: At twilight this insect-eating robot bat hangs from a tree, waking to go out on its nightly forage for food. Visitors can hear the ambient night sounds of crickets, other insects and birds in the distance.
Animation: The robot’s sonar receptors (ears) rotate independently. Its mouth opens and closes; its head nods, turning left and right. The wings open and close slightly.
Robot parts: Real animal equivalents:
| Robot parts: | Real animal equivalents: |
| Strong, flexible material stretched over struts | Wing membrane |
| Struts | Fingers |
| Hook used to help some bats crawl along the ground | Thumb |
| Strut supports for wings | Tubular veins containing blood |
| Upper bone of wing | Humerus |
| Food duct | Esophagus |
| Framework protecting electrical fibers | Vertebrae enclosing spinal cord |
| Sonar receptors | Highly sensitive ears pick up echoes of ultrasonic sounds the bat sends out |
| Computer to gather and sort information | Brain |
| Small visual receptors | Eyes |
| Air inlets | Nostrils |
| Broadcaster of ultrasonic sounds | Nose flap |
| Robot prey | Moth |
| Backward-pointing spikes for holding onto prey | Teeth |
| Sonar transmitter sends fast click to broadcaster | Larynx |
| Food processor | Stomach |
| Main support for flight pistons | Breastbone to which wing muscles are attached |
| Air sacs for ventilation | Lungs |
| Filtering pipe | Intestines taking nutrients from the digested food |
| Forward-facing clamps for gripping branches | Claws |
| Extra strut for added membrane support | Calcar |
| Long support strut | Tail |
The real animal:
During the day most bats roost in large groups in caves or hollow trees, hanging upside down by their clawed hind feet. At night bats hunt for food. While most eat flying insects, fruit bats feed on fruits and flowers; some larger bats go after mice, birds or fish. About 1 percent of bat species are vampire bats.
GIANT SQUID
Size: 6 feet long, 18-foot tentacles
Exhibit setting: The robot giant squid enters a structure resembling a shipwreck on the ocean floor. Visitors can hear ambient underwater sounds.
Animation: The one eye which is visible moves right, left, up and down. The robot’s beak-like mouth opens to reveal a spinning food grinder. Two of the eight arms wave from side to side, as its two tentacles grip a fish which struggles to escape (moving back and forth).
| Robot parts: | Real animal equivalents: |
| Containers for chemicals that break down food | Digestive glands |