The exhibit features eight larger-than-life-size animal robots and 16 hands-on activities. Each mechanical robot is displayed in the context of its natural habitat. The smallest are a grasshopper and a house fly. The largest are a giraffe and a rhinoceros. In between are a bat, a chameleon, a platypus, and a squid.

The interactive displays offer visitors hands-on applications of science concepts, from the fluid movements of the giant squid’s 18-foot tentacles, to the speed of a chameleon’s tongue as it shoots out its long, sticky tip to reel in a meal. A computer simulation of squid propulsion lets visitors use computational fluid dynamics (CFD) – computer calculations – to study fluids in motion. On an O2 workstation, visitors see how far they can propel a digital squid by manipulating the interaction between nerves and muscles.

“Tongue Gun” shows how chameleon’s long tongue catches food as visitors trigger a joystick on the model of a robot chameleon’s head. “Mister Platypus,” another of the hands-on activities, allows visitors to play with evolution as they add parts to a 9-foot long platypus model. By using a computer workstation, visitors can interact with a three-dimensional, computer-aided design (CAD) rhino model in a Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) where technology brings to life an “animated 3-D world” environment.

Visitors also can interact with a computer paint program, where they can create color patterns that post instantaneously on TV monitors covering the 10-foot long robot – chameleon’s body. Bishop Museum is located at 1525 Bernice Street and is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $14.95 for adults, $11.95 for children ages 4-12, and free for members ($35 a year) and ages 3 and younger. Explore the world of animals and discover what makes them work at The Robot Zoo, where computer technology mimics nature.