COLUMBUS - All the gizmos and gadgets that attract people to the Center of Science and Industry mean nothing unless they work.

        It's the job of 19 exhibit technicians at COSI Columbus to make sure breakdowns are kept to a minimum.

        Patrons “have a right to have everything working,” said Joe Wisne, vice president of COSI Studios in Hilliard, which designs exhibits for COSI Columbus and its counterpart in Toledo.

        “Even a small percentage of the exhibits being broken translates psychologically into a feeling that the place is broken, that nothing works.”

        The technicians service equipment that uses many electronic, pneumatic, hydraulic and computerized components. They typically answer 35 to 40 requests a day.

        “It's frustrating,” said technician Steve Langsdorf, who has worked at COSI for eight years.

        “But if it was easy to fix, we'd all be bored.”

        At any given time, 97 percent to 98 percent of the museum's 500 exhibits work, Mr. Wisne said.

        Although equipment-failure rates at science museums nationwide are not available for comparison, COSI's success has been noticed.

        “Ninety-seven percent is doing a fantastic job,” said Sean Smith, director of government relations for the Association of Science-Technology Centers in Washington.

        The most trouble-plagued exhibit — and the most expensive to maintain — is a 500,000-gallon tank with remote-controlled vehicles inside.

        “Probably half the time that we're open, one of the four items in this tank isn't working,” Mr. Wisne said.

        Among the more reliable displays are a motion simulator and the most expensive exhibit at the museum, a $280,000 centrifugal generator that whirls visitors in a cylinder, forcing them to its sides as the floor drops out.

        Some of the equipment problems result from inquisitive children. “When there's a button, they tend to hit it over and over again,” said Kim Whaley, COSI's vice president of education. “And if there's a joystick, they tend to slam it.”

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