Sharjah: See giant grasshoppers, bats when the Robot Zoo exhibition opens

Calling all the kids who love animals and books: This year’s Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival (SCRF) will be launching a Robot Zoo exhibition as part of its 13th edition, which will run from May 11 to May 22 at the Expo Centre.

Organised by the Sharjah Book Authority (SBA), this year’s SCRF is themed ‘Create Creativity’ and the Robot Zoo is a novel addition to its edutainment agenda.

At the fun, innovative exhibition, children will meet eight animal robots and take part in hands-on activities that can show how master-planned machinery and the magic of nature can turn ordinary animals into complex machines.

The zoo’s giant robotic creatures will demonstrate the fascinating, real-life characteristics of even the smallest of species. Young visitors will get to see how powerful springs can launch a robot grasshopper into the air and how a robot bat can locate a prey in the dark using special equipment. The demonstrations were designed to help children love and appreciate their fellow beings on earth.

Shock absorbers and pumps are used to demonstrate the mechanisms that make animals tick. Cutaways are used to present the insides of animals. By comparing the anatomy, environments, and size of the actual creatures to their mechanised counterparts, the Robot Zoo provides children with fantastic new insights.

The exhibition is based on the book The Robot Zoo which was conceived, edited and designed by Marshall Editions of London, England. Through a host of easily recognisable machine parts and gadgets, the life mechanisms and anatomy of animals and insects are explained to young children. Have you ever wondered how a fly walks on the ceiling or how a chameleon changes colours, or how a giant squid jets around in the ocean?

Now you will have an opportunity to learn about this and more at the Robot Zoo Exhibition of Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival (SCRF), whose 13th annual edition will run from May 11 – 22 in Expo Centre Sharjah.

Organised by the Sharjah Book Authority (SBA), the 13th edition of SCRF will be running under the theme ‘Create Creativity’.

Through a host of easily recognisable machine parts and gadgets, the life mechanisms and anatomy of animals and insects are explained to young children.