Dublin is going to be invaded by robots this summer as the city's first Save the Robots festival gets under way at the Ark Cultural Centre for Children.
Robotic dogs will roam the streets sniffing out toxic chemicals, while mechanical ducks will quack alongside real ducks on the lake in St Stephen's Green. An 18th-century duck that eats is expected to be popular.
The Save the Robots exhibition opens today at the Ark and Filmbase in Temple Bar and will run until September 30th. It will display robots from around the globe, including Robby the Robot from Forgotten Planet, Sonny from the film I, Robot and a chess-playing Turk who once played against Napoleon.
The high point of the festival will be ArtBots - the International Robot Talent Show - from July 15th to 17th. This is the first year the show has been held outside New York City. It will include a robot controlled by a Madagascar hissing cockroach, a nervous robot that flees from humans and a robotic ribbon dancer. Children from eight years upwards can build their own robots at workshops from June 29th to July 28th.
The festival is the brainchild of Dr Michael John Gorman, science/technology lecturer and project director of Arkimedia at the Ark Cultural Centre.
The €350,000 festival is being funded by Dublin City Council, the European Commission, Government bodies and private donors.
Full details of the Save the Robots programme are on www.robots.ie
