Carnegie Mellon University has announced that it will allow the public to vote on the next inductees to the Robot Hall of Fame. The winners will be inducted in a ceremony taking place on October 23 at the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh. The ceremony is part of the RoboBusiness Leadership Summit, a conference and trade show for the robotics industry.
This year’s nominees were selected by a group of 107 robotics experts, industry leaders, and “aficionados” chosen by the Robot Hall of Fame. Only half of the choice will be given to the public, however, with the other half coming from a survey of robotics experts. Voters can choose one robot in each of four categories: education & consumer, entertainment, industrial and service, and research.
“The technology and art of robotics are advancing at an increasingly rapid rate and so the Robot Hall of Fame also must evolve,” said Shirley Saldamarco, Robot Hall of Fame director and faculty member at Carnegie Mellon’s Entertainment Technology Center. “As more students, workers and consumers become accustomed to robots, it seems like a natural step to give the public a voice in selecting inductees.”
The entertainment category contains robots that will be most recognizable to the public. This year, Johnny 5 from the Short Circuit movies, Rosie from The Jetsons, and WALL-E from the Pixar movie of the same name are up for the honor. The winner will join other fictional robots in the Robot Hall of Fame, including R2-D2, C-3PO, HAL 9000, and Lieutenant Commander Data of Star Trek: The Next Generation fame.
The induction ceremony is open to the public and tickets can be purchased for a steep $99. Meanwhile, the voting continues until September 30th