Pop and Lock

The Miller Nichols library at the University of Missouri–Kansas City is installing a robotic storage and retrieval system that will house 80 percent of the facility’s books while plotting to DESTROY ALL HUMANS, as any competently programmed robot should. To celebrate — and attempt to set a Guinness world record — the school hosts what could be the world’s largest Robot Dance Party at the Stanley H. Durwood Soccer Stadium and Recreational Field (on the UMKC campus at the corner of 51st Street and Cherry). Organizers hope to have the most people ever gathered in one place doing the Robot. The current record stands at 429 people. If you have a fondness for simulating the mechanical dime-stop motions of servos and actuators, hit the field for the 7:15 p.m. main event, presided over by KPRS 103.3’s J.T. Quick. Robot practice starts at 6:10 and 6:55 p.m., and the first 400 people receive T-shirts. The event is free, but attendees are invited to donate to the YMCA Young Achievers, a group that encourages minority students to pursue higher education and (with any luck) save us from killer robots.— Chris Packham

Mon., Sept. 27, 7:15 p.m., 2010