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Carnegie Mellon Inducts Four Robots Into Newly Established Robot Hall of Fame
The Mars Sojourner, Unimate, R2-D2 and HAL are the First Inductees
Carnegie Mellon University has inducted four famous robots into its newly established Robot Hall of Fame representing scientific breakthroughs and the realm of science fiction. The induction ceremony was held at Pittsburgh's Carnegie Science Center Nov. 10.
The robots' creators and others close to them accepted a certificate in their honor. Jacob R. Matijevic of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory accepted for the Sojourner rover. Matijevic was responsible for the implementation, integration, delivery and eventual operation of Sojourner on Mars.
Kathleen Holliday, director of special programs at Lucasfilm, accepted for R2-D2, and there was a message on behalf of "HAL" from Arthur C. Clarke, who lives in Sri Lanka.
Two key actors from the original Star Wars trilogy were also on hand for the celebration David Prowse, who played Darth Vader in the original Star Wars Trilogy, and Kenny Baker who played R2-D2 in the first Star Wars episode.
The Robot Hall of Fame Web site (www.robothalloffame.org), developed by Wall-to-Wall Studios of Pittsburgh, was unveiled at the ceremony.
The Robot Hall of Fame was established earlier this year to honor noteworthy robots, both real and fictional, along with their creators in recognition of the increasing benefits robots are bringing to society.
Anyone may suggest a robot for the Hall of Fame. This time, the jury made its final selections from a field of 32 nominees via an international Web conference last September.
"It's fitting that the Robot Hall of Fame is located here in Pittsburgh at the home of Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Institute," said Chuck Thorpe, the institute's director. "We have been doing research in many areas of robotics for nearly 25 years and have helped to focus attention on this field that has so much potential to help people. Next year the Robotics Institute will celebrate its 25th anniversary. We will hold the next induction ceremony at that celebration, which takes place from Oct. 13-16, 2004."
Anne Watzman
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