Fantasy Playground of Biomechanical Images
of Animals, Reptiles and Insects 

Robot Zoo at the Children’s Discovery Museum in Bangkok is a marvellous place in which to take your kids should you want to keep them amused while on holiday in the city. The exhibition inside the museum is a series of biomechanical images representing life-size animals, huge reptiles and giant insects all designed to illustrate how real animals, reptiles and insects behave in their own habitat.

Not only will your kids learn all they possibly can about how different animals, reptiles and insects work, but they can also get a chance to feel what it’s really like to actually be one too. Kids will get to learn just how these fascinating creatures of nature, survive in the wild while applying a hands-on approach.

Physics – Features – Functions  

Each robot is superbly crafted to perform real-life functions and to illustrate their own individual features and unique characteristics. Kids get to experience what it feels like to hang upside down like a bat, hop like a grasshopper, change colour like a chameleon, dive and swim like a platypus, glide like a giant squid and walk on the ceiling like a fly.

Yes! That’s right – Kids can put on a pair of Velcro slippers to re-enact that funny feeling a fly uses to get from one place to another. But, whatever the motive may be, you can bet your bottom dollar your kids will absolutely love everything about this unique robot zoo.  

What to Expect at the Zoo

Eight larger-than-life animated robots complete the line-up at the zoo, including a chameleon, a platypus, a rhinoceros, a grasshopper, a sleeping bat, a giant squid with 18-foot tentacles, a housefly with a 10-foot wingspan, and a giraffe with a neck seemingly going on forever. Check them out before they’re all gone.

Cut-away sections expose some of the insides of the creatures and are remarkably illustrated with easily recognisable machine parts as well as an assortment of some weird and wonderful gadgets. For instance, shock-absorbers and pumps are used to demonstrate the real life movements the creatures make. With a little imagination, it’s not hard to create these spectacular displays with all the things available to us especially with new insights into science and technology. 

By comparing the actual size, anatomy and environment of these creatures various mechanic bits and pieces are substituted for the real thing. The Robot Zoo will provide you with a fascinating insight into how these animals and insects work while allowing you the freedom and fun of a hands-on approach.

How the Robots Work

The Chameleon Robot at the robot zoo can perform a couple of functions such as changing its skin colour and pattern to match its surroundings. That is to say from a mottled brown on its tree trunk to a bright green on its leafy background. With the use of some sort of spring-loaded mechanism, the chameleon’s tongue can literally uncoil itself and then shoot forward. Watch how the reptile captures a robot fly with the sticky end of its spring-loaded tongue.

A minicomputer has been installed in this chameleon robot, allowing it to perform various functions such as being able to pick up images via two pivoting sensors on its head. These eyes can move upward, forward and sideways. Optic fibres from the sensors control images which can be seen as camouflaged patterns on the banks of tiny video screens that cover its surface. You’ll also see how the feet function as they grip firmly around the twigs on which it is perched.

How the Robots Work – The Bat Robot

Bats hardly need any introduction these days, especially with so many vampire movies doing their rounds on the circuit. The dreaded bat is often the first demon that springs to mind when any talk of this terrifying type of folklore arises. It’s common knowledge that vampire bats are known to feed on the blood of both humans and animals so be afraid, be very afraid. However, little kids, as well as older children, seem to be constantly fascinated with these unsightly critters.

As part of the Robot Zoo exhibition, kids get up close and personal to one such bat albeit in robotic form. The mechanical one here will give you an insight into the habitats of these flying mammals. They may be masters of the air at night, but during the day, bats usually roost in  vast groups hanging upside-down with their clawed hind feet in caves or hollow trees and even in some attics or barns.

Take a meaningful examination of those sharp and ferocious looking backward-pointing spikes in the mouth on this one. I should imagine they would be used for holding onto their prey. Then study those eerie forward-facing claws bats use for gripping on to things. While there are so many other features to investigate here, I shall leave the rest up to you to explore. Kids will simply love this one.

Other Zoos in Thailand Kids may want to see

Phuket Zoo located near the southern end of Phuket island is a family friendly enclosure where kids and adults alike get to see a bunch of both land animals and sea creatures as well as a whole host of exciting shows including a monkey, crocodile and elephant performances.
Dusit Zoo on Rama V Road in Bangkok is a fantasy park where the whole family can view a variety of live animal and bird species, both international and domestic as well as many life-size reproductions of prehistoric animals from years gone by.
Sriracha Tiger Zoo is a wildlife sanctuary located near Pattaya on the east coast of Thailand. The zoo is home to two hundred Bengal Tigers, one hundred thousand crocodiles and a huge variety of both local and international animals and bird species.