Monday, July 30, 2012

Glad the Robot Hall of Fame is back in business

I love robots and halls of fame. So I was pleased to find out earlier this month that the Robot Hall of Fame has resumed operations after a two-year hiatus.
Created by Carnegie Mellon University in 2003, the Robot Hall of Fame honors real-world robots from science and industry and fictional robots from pop culture. The hall has a physical presence at the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh.
The hall will induct two sets of robots at a ceremony in October.
The first group was selected in 2009, but was never inducted. That group includes NASA’s Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity, iRobot’s Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner, and Intuitive Surgical’s da Vinci Surgical System. It also includes the T-800 Terminator from the sci-fi movie “The Terminator” (1984) and the charming maintenance robots Huey, Dewey and Louie from the sci-fi film “Silent Running” (1971).
The second set of robots to be inducted will be chosen in an online vote later this summer from nominees selected by an expert panel of jurors. They will be announced at the Oct. 23 ceremony at the Carnegie Science Center.
While I’m a fan of all robots, I’m particularly interested in space exploration robots and robots from movies and TV shows.
When I was a kid I closely followed the Mars Viking lander missions and loved the character “Robot” on the TV show “Lost in Space.” Neither of those robots has been selected yet. But now that the Robot Hall of Fame is back in business, it’s possible.

Related story:
Roomba, Terminator Finally To Enter Robot Shrine (Investors.com; July 13, 2012)

Photo: Robot B-9 from “Lost in Space” (Photo from Wikimedia Commons)

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