In a press release today, Robotics Trends and IDG World Expo announced that the 2006 induction ceremonies for Carnegie Mellon University’s Robot Hall of Fame will be held during the third annual RoboBusiness Conference and Exposition which will take place in Pittsburgh on June 20th and 21st. The ceremony will take place on the second day of the conference and will honor an array of robots from scientific, industrial, and entertainment robots to the fantasy robots of science fiction. The expo attendees range from high tech businessman to researchers and scientists, making the induction ceremony a logical fit with the conference.
The Robot Hall of Fame was founded in 2003 by the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University “to honor landmark achievements in robotics technology and the increasing contributions of robots to human endeavors.” There have been 9 inductees to date including NASA’s Mars Pathfinder Sojourner Rover, HAL 9000, Honda’s ASIMO, R2-D2, and Robby, the Robot. The jury responsible for the task of selecting the inductees is picked by James H. Morris, the dean of Carnegie Mellon West, and is made up of scholars, researchers, writers, and designers including world-renowned author Arthur C. Clarke and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.
Matt Mason, Director of Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute said in today’s press release, “As the world leader in robotics education, Carnegie Mellon University developed the Robot Hall of Fame expressly for the purpose of educating the public about the value of robots to human society. RoboBusiness 2006 gives Carnegie Mellon a highly visible international platform for honoring the great robots and their accomplishments.