Who Should Be In The Robot Hall Of Fame?

[Karl W4KRL]

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/entertainment/31378372/detail.html

 

Who Should Be In The Robot Hall Of Fame?

 

R2-D2, C-3PO Already Inducted

 

By Doug GrossCNN

POSTED: 10:20 am MDT August 23, 2012

UPDATED: 2:24 pm MDT August 23, 2012

 

(CNN) -- Wall-E or Johnny 5? Or how about loyal "Jetsons" maid Rosie?

 

Which of those fictional robots deserves a space in the Robot Hall of Fame?

 

Or in the real world, how about the robots that troops use to dispose of
bombs, or one that's made it all the way to the International Space Station?

 

For the first time, you get to help decide.

 

Created in 2003 at Carnegie Mellon University, the Robot Hall of Fame
recognizes excellence in robotics technology, both real and fictional. So
far, the hall has honored 21 robots, including such robo-stalwarts as NASA's
Mars Sojourner, Honda's ASIMO and R2-D2 and C-3PO from "Star Wars."

 

This year, the public gets to vote on who's inducted.

 

"The technology and art of robotics are advancing at an increasingly rapid
rate and so the Robot Hall of Fame also must evolve," said Shirley
Saldamarco, the hall's director and a faculty member at Carnegie Mellon's
Entertainment Technology Center. "As more students, workers and consumers
become accustomed to robots, it seems like a natural step to give the public
a voice in selecting inductees."

 

Members of the Robot Hall of Fame are showcased in "Roboworld," a $3.5
million exhibit at the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh. The center
calls it "the world's largest and most comprehensive permanent robotics
exhibition."

 

Visitors to the museum's website may vote for one of three nominees in each
of four categories. The categories, and nominees, are:

 

Education & Consumer 

-- Aldebaran Robotics' NAO, a 22-inch-tall humanoid that is used worldwide
in education;

-- iRobot's Create, a programmable robot based on the company's popular
robotic vacuum cleaner, Roomba;

-- VEX Robotics Design System, a kit for designing and building robots that
is widely used in the classroom and competitions.

 

Entertainment 

-- WALL-E, the garbage-collector robot who's the hero of Pixar's 2008
animated sci-fi film of the same name;

-- Johnny 5, a prototype military robot that learns to embrace life in the
1986 science-fiction comedy "Short Circuit";

-- Rosie, a maid robot with motherly qualities that took care of a human
family on "The Jetsons," a Hanna-Barbera animated sitcom first broadcast on
ABC in 1962.

 

Industrial & Service 

-- iRobot's PackBot, which performs bomb disposal and other dangerous
assignments for the U.S. military;

-- Amazon-owned Kiva System's autonomous warehouse robots, which speed the
processing of customer orders;

-- Jason, a remotely operated undersea vehicle designed and built by the
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, which has explored hydrothermal vents
in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans.

 

Research 

-- BigDog, a four-legged robot the size of a small mule, which was developed
by Boston Dynamics for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to
maneuver with heavy loads over rough terrain;

-- PR2, a two-armed robot built by Willow Garage that can navigate human
environments and has the dexterity to grasp and manipulate objects;

-- Robonaut, a dexterous, two-armed robot developed by NASA's Johnson Space
Center to help humans work in space; the latest version, Robonaut 2, was
launched to the International Space Station in February 2011.

 

The robots nominated were selected by a group of 107 robotics professionals,
researchers and others.

 

This year's four inductees will be decided half by public vote and half by
the committee of voters. Winners will be announced Oct. 23 at a ceremony at
the Carnegie Science Center.

 

Public voting is open until Sept. 30.

 

 

 

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