Battling for Victory

April 1, 2014

Gr 2-4-These very quick looks at many of the tasks that robots have already or may soon take over from humans are likely to leave even emergent readers unsatisfied. Nearly every spread features an often vague "Robot Fact" ("Scientists are working on new robots that will plant and fertilize crops.") and a simply phrased description or claim accompanying a large color photo. Unusual terms are helpfully defined in the adjacent margins and in an appended glossary. Though robots like Star Trek's Data and The Jetsons's Rosie are clearly designated as imaginary, no systematic distinctions are made between currently functioning robots and those that are experimental or even theoretical. Furthermore, many of the images are blurry or not shown from informative angles-and some of those in Humanoid Robots are downright creepy looking.

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