2006 Inductees
AIBO | SCARA | David | Maria | Gort
The Robot Hall of Fame inducted five robots on June 21, 2006, representing the best of both real and fictional robots. The Sony AIBO (1998-2005) and the SCARA industrial robot arm (1978) are brilliant robotic achievements in consumer entertainment and industrial assembly.
The three fictional robot inductees include a female icon, an android child, and a macho intergalactic bodyguard – Maria of Metropolis (1927), David of Artificial Intelligence:AI (2001), and Gort of The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951). These robots are among the most enduring and influential images in science fiction.
The third Robot Hall of Fame induction ceremony was held at the RoboBusiness2006 Conference, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Both celebrities and distinguished scholars participated in the event. Anthony Daniels, the British actor who portrayed C-3PO in the Star Wars film cycle, was master of ceremonies for the program. Daniel Wilson, author, How To Survive A Robot Uprising, presented his humorous vision of the ways robots will impact our world.
Gort’s induction included actor Billy Gray’s personal plea to keep the world safe from nuclear weapons. Scholars Sherry Turkle (MIT) and Anne Balsamo (Annenberg School of Communications, USC) praised the enduring influence of David and Maria. The AIBO was lauded by Sony’s Katsumi Muto and Carnegie Mellon University’s Manuela Veloso, professor of computer science and a leader in international RoboCup competition. SCARA’s distinguished inventor, Professor Emeritus Hiroshi Makino (University of Yamanashi) traveled from Japan to accept the honors on behalf of his creation.
AIBO, for the sophistication of your software that wins RoboCup competitions and the beauty of your design that wins our hearts … SCARA, for proving that less can be more on the assembly line and for revolutionizing electronics production … DAVID, for giving us a vision of emotional relationships between humans and robots … MARIA, for providing popular culture with one of the earliest female robotic images, unforgettable and powerful … and GORT, for your acceptance of the most famous command in science fiction to stop your mission of destruction…we welcome each of these landmark robots to the Robot Hall of Fame!