Family science exhibition The Robot Zoo comes to the Horniman Museum, Forest Hill (From News Shopper)

Family science exhibition The Robot Zoo comes to the Horniman Museum, Forest Hill

11:21am Wednesday 25th March 2009

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Animal science gets a spectacular makeover in the Horniman Museum’s new Robot Zoo exhibition. Kerry Ann Eustice finds out more about the fun collection making its UK debut in Forest Hill

Families don’t exactly need another good reason to visit the Horniman Museum — the gardens, regular activities, performances and workshops are already big draws — but in The Robot Zoo they certainly have one.

A herd of robotic animals with pistons for muscles and computers for brains — based on John Kelly’s book of the same name — have taken up temporary residence at the Forest Hill museum to help visitors get to grips with animal anatomy in a fun and interactive way.

It features eight larger-than-life robots (it has taken around two weeks to move and assemble the chameleon, giant squid, rhinoceros, giraffe, grasshopper, platypus, house fly and a bat at the Horniman) and 11 interactives.

With its a colour-changing chameleon and a contraption which gives visitors the bat power of echolocation, this collection certainly has strong potential to be a blockbuster.

Jo Hatton, the Horinman’s keeper of natural history, agrees.

“The robots are large and spectacular and the connections made to real body parts often very realistic,” she said.

“Animals are always popular with our family audience, especially giant ones.

“Hopefully visitors will be bowled over with excitement and learn a thing or two about the diversity of life and how different animals move and are adapted to survive in the world around us.”

Tying in perfectly with the Horniman’s Darwin 200 celebrations, each of the species featured in Robot Zoo demonstrates fascinating and exceptional survival skills.

“Robot Zoo enables us to demonstrate how some of the world’s animals move or are adapted to survive in a novel and fun way,” explained Jo.

“Many of the animals move or change in some way, either automatically, or through user interaction. The bat hangs upside down and moves its head around in a very realistic bat-like way and you can change the colour of the chameleon so it blends into its surroundings.”

Such interactive elements not only keep the kids entertained, but are perfect for bringing the more complicated biological concepts to life too.

It’s impossible to deny Robot Zoo has a sure-to-be-successful blend of science and spectacle.

“There is something for everyone,” agreed Jo.

“I can see parents coming from a design or architectural background visiting with their children being equally fascinated by the materials used to construct the robot animals and trying to work out how the technicians have made the animals move as much as engaging with the biological concepts themselves.

"If art helps bring science to life and explain concepts to our audience then the Horniman is definitely interested in exploring such ideas.”

The Robot Zoo. Horniman Museum, Forest Hill. March 28 to Nov 8. 020 8699 1872.

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