Build a Better 'Bot at the Mayborn Museum Complex

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Contact: Terry Goodrich, Assistant Director of Media Communications, (254) 710-3321
WACO, Texas (January 24, 2013) - In science fiction, robots look like R2D2. In stores, they look like vacuum cleaners and robotic pets.
A new traveling exhibit Robots + Us at the Mayborn Museum Complex will allow museum visitors to compare sci-fi fantasies of robots with today's technical realities and to explore why it's so hard to build human-like robots. The exhibit will be on display in the Thomas E. and Emilyne Weed Anding Traveling Exhibition Gallery, Jan. 26 through April 28. The museum is at 1300 S. University Parks Drive.
Visitors will direct light-sensitive robots through mazes that they create in the Robot Arena; experiment with walking machines in the Leg Lab to learn how simple changes in anatomy can affect how they walk and handle obstacles; interact with Lena, a computer-generated character who will "chat" about the exhibition; and learn to race and outwit the surprisingly "human" Robot Arm.
"Robots have fascinated us for decades and continue to be a hot topic today," said Ellie Caston, Ph.D., director of Baylor University's Mayborn Museum Complex.
Regular admission, which includes all access to the entire museum and the Robots + Us exhibit, is $10 for adults, $9 for senior citizens and $5 for children. The exhibition is free to all museum members and Baylor students. This courtesy is also extended to other college and university students with a valid ID.
The exhibit admission Saturday, Jan. 26, and Sunday, Jan. 27, will be a special price of $5 per person. The museum is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays; 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursdays; and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays.
For more information about the exhibit, contact the Mayborn Museum Complex at 254- 710-1104 or visit www.baylor.edu/mayborn/
ABOUT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY
Baylor University is a private Christian university and a nationally ranked research institution, characterized as having "high research activity" by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The university provides a vibrant campus community for approximately 15,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating university in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 80 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 11 nationally recognized academic divisions. Baylor sponsors 19 varsity athletic teams and is a founding member of the Big 12 Conference.
ABOUT MAYBORN MUSEUM COMPLEX
Located on the Baylor University campus, the Mayborn Museum Complex features a natural science and cultural history museum focusing on Central Texas with walk-in dioramas, including one on the Waco Mammoth Site, and exploration stations for geology, paleontology, archaeology, and natural history. In addition, 17 themed discovery rooms encourage hands-on learning for all ages.