Images: Aibo, Gort join Robot Hall of Fame

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  • Aibo

    Aibo

    Aibo may have outlived its usefulness for Sony, but its contributions to robotics have made a lasting impression. The four-legged mechanical pup, which has played many a game of robo-soccer, is one of the five new inductees to the Robot Hall of Fame at Carnegie Mellon University. The inductees were named late Wednesday; the induction ceremony will take place June 21.

    "The Aibo has evolved to be a robust, fully programmable robot with perception, onboard computing and great four-legged motion," Manuela Veloso, a computer science professor who leads Carnegie Mellon's RoboCup soccer teams, said in a statement.

    Alas, belt-tightening at Sony forced the company earlier this year to dispense with its robotics unit.

    Caption by: Bill Detwiler

  • Gort

    Gort

    The Robot Hall of Fame pays homage to fictional robots as well as real-world ones. Among the 2006 inductees is Gort, the strong-but-silent android from the 1951 film, "The Day The Earth Stood Still."

    "Gort was a reaction to a world mired in post-Holocaust existential relativism, to belief in definable concepts of 'good and evil' and other societal and moral dictums," Don Marinelli, director of the Entertainment Technology Center, said in a statement.

    Caption by: Bill Detwiler

  • Maria

    Maria

    One of the most famous, and perhaps the earliest, celluloid robot was the art deco-styled Maria, from Fritz Lang's silent film, "Metropolis." She's also among this year's inductees.

    Caption by: Bill Detwiler

  • SCARA

    SCARA

    The decidedly more utilitarian design heading into the Hall of Fame is SCARA--short for selective compliance assembly robot arm--a popular class of industrial robot developed in the 1970s and '80s. It was used in pick-and-place assembly and packaging operations.

    For more photo galleries of robots, click here.

    Caption by: Bill Detwiler

  • David

    David

    The final 2006 honoree is David, the waif from Steven Spielberg's "Artificial Intelligence: AI." Earlier inductees into the Robot Hall of Fame include the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO from the "Star Wars" movies; Asimo, a biped from Honda; and the Mars rover Pathfinder.

    Caption by: Bill Detwiler

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Carnegie Mellon's School of Computer Science pays homage to Sony's robot pup and several movie robots.

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Aibo

Aibo may have outlived its usefulness for Sony, but its contributions to robotics have made a lasting impression. The four-legged mechanical pup, which has played many a game of robo-soccer, is one of the five new inductees to the Robot Hall of Fame at Carnegie Mellon University. The inductees were named late Wednesday; the induction ceremony will take place June 21.

"The Aibo has evolved to be a robust, fully programmable robot with perception, onboard computing and great four-legged motion," Manuela Veloso, a computer science professor who leads Carnegie Mellon's RoboCup soccer teams, said in a statement.

Alas, belt-tightening at Sony forced the company earlier this year to dispense with its robotics unit.

Caption by: Bill Detwiler

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