October 20, 2004
Robotics Insiitute turns 25
The Robotics Institute at Carnagie Mellon is sopnsoring a conference to celebrate its 25th year. They have a bunch of cool multimedia stuff, and it is definitely worth checking out.
Posted by elkaim at October 20, 2004 3:42 PMTwenty-five years ago Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute opened its doors with the dream of ushering in a new age of thinking robots. During the ensuing two and one-half decades, we have experienced many research successes in intelligent manufacturing, autonomous vehicles, space-related robots, medical robotics, nano-machines and anthropomorphic robots. There is much to celebrate!
But what is a celebration of robotics, if it does not include a look into the future? This celebration will lay out the "grand challenges" that remain before us and refocus our attention on the hurdles we must overcome to achieve our dreams. For example, the questions of how to build truly intelligent machines, how to provide untethered power, and how to conquer the limits imposed by scale (eg., nano-machines to mega-machines) remain before us.
This celebration is unique because it will demand that every participant also consider how the dawning age of robotics will impact humanity. This is the most critical grand challenge: to create a positive, fruitful coexistence of robots with humans.
In 1963, a book titled Computers and Thought asked some of these same questions about the advent and impact of computers upon humanity. Looking back, one can only marvel at how much computers have changed our lives in a very short time! Their impact is comparable to the invention of the wheel, the printing press, the discovery of electricity and nuclear power. We can only imagine how autonomous machines that sense, think and act will continue to change our world.
In 1979, Carnegie Mellon Professors Raj Reddy and Angel Jordan and Westinghouse Electric Corp. President Tom Murrin agreed to open the Robotics Institute with the goal of making it the best place on the planet to do robotics research. By 2004, their efforts, powered by Carnegie Mellon's faculty, staff, and students, have arguably reached this lofty goal.
In this spirit, the Robotics Institute's 25th anniversary celebration will be a party as well as a deep reflection on the shape of our shared future with robots. Come and join us in this celebration.