The Carnegie Science Center plans to open the nation’s largest permanent robotics exhibition in spring 2009 called roboworld which will feature 30 hands-on interactive exhibit stations in three thematic areas focusing on robotic sensing, thinking and acting.

“roboworld will be both educational and entertaining,” said Joanna Haas, director of Carnegie Science Center. “It will showcase the latest in robotics technology — much of which has been developed in this region — and help visitors understand the tremendous impact robotics has on everyday life for each and every one of us.”

In addition to the three major thematic areas, roboworld will feature two specialized areas allowing visitors to interact with robotics technology as it is being developed and to visit with some of the world’s most famous robots. Within the roboworld exhibition gallery will be a dedicated Robot Workshop providing companies and roboticists the opportunity to test their latest innovations and for Science Center visitors the opportunity to experience the latest in robotics technology and interact with scientists working in the field. This space will also serve as an area for visitors to create and test their own robots.

Robots have long had a presence in science fiction and popular culture, and roboworld will pay homage to their influence through a section of the exhibition dedicated to the Robot Hall of Fame. Created in 2003 by the Carnegie Mellon University School of Computer Science, the Robot Hall of Fame recognizes excellence in robotics technology worldwide and honors the fictional and real robots that have inspired and made breakthrough accomplishments in robotics.

Each year a jury of scholars, researchers, writers, designers and entrepreneurs select the real and fictional robots that will be honored by the Robot Hall of Fame. Inductees have included Honda’s ASIMO humanoid robot, Star Wars robots R2-D2 and C-3PO, NASA’s Mars Sojourner, HAL 9000 from Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, Gort from The Day the Earth Stood Still, and the Unimate manufacturing arm. When roboworld opens in 2009, the Robot Hall of Fame will finally have a permanent home for these and other inductees.

Read more about roboworld here.

This entry was posted on April 17, 2008 at 11:14 am and is filed under in the media, robots. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.