Animal robots

This entry in the Cool Robots series is, in fact, incredibly cool. Scientists who build robots study real animals for ideas, begins Shores, and in a series of two-page spreads, she introduces nine such robots with a few simple sentences and a giant photograph. The robots generally fall into two categories. The first are the robots that have as their chief goal the enjoyment of humans. Take AIBO, for example, the contoured plastic robo-doggie that knows 100 words and can chase balls. The other category are those with direct practical applications, like the spiderlike robot that can carry 340 pounds through the wilderness, an unnamed giant pink fish designed to swim through oceans to collect data on pollution, and a military spy device made to look like a hummingbird. The level of writing and the oversize format clearly position this for a young audience, but the content will attract older kids, who may pine for back matter providing additional information. Regardless, this is unusual, high-interest material that makes technology compelling.--Kraus, Daniel Copyright 2010 Booklist

Gr 1-3-These slim works examine robots that complete a variety of intriguing tasks, from exploring Mars to photographing the human body. Some robots, however, appear to be little more than amusing toys, and there's scant information on them; for instance, the author of Robots on the Job doesn't elaborate on how the SushiBot can "[make] 300 sushi rolls each hour." The only explanation of what robots are or how they work appears in each title's glossary ("a machine that can do work and is operated by remote control or a computer."). Text is on the spare side, and readers will be hard pressed to make sense of some of the accompanying photographs, which vary in clarity. There's too little content here to support students in pursuing the critical thinking questions at the end of each book. The cool concept here sinks in the vague and sketchy treatment. (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.