Carnegie Mellon has announced this year’s inductees for the Robot Hall of Fame. The real-life droids include Aibo and Scara. From the fiction category, there is David from AI, Gort from The Day the Earth Stood Still, and Maria from Metropolis.

"The five robots were formally inducted at a June 21 ceremony during the third annual RoboBusiness Conference and Exposition. The international business development event for mobile robotics and intelligent systems, produced by Robotics Trends Inc., was held at Sheraton Station Square in Pittsburgh."

To see past inductees and to get your nominations in for next year, visit the Robot Hall of Fame.
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Here is a lengthy article describing the possibility of printers that will print circuits and even robots. Already printers are being used to create edible art, print synthetic skin, and now the possibility of creating polymers that can act like semiconducters and be printed. With the cost of 3D printers dropping like a rock, or even duplicating themselves, the reality of pressing "print" from your favorite robotics studio, and watching your latest creation be created in minutes is becoming more and more real. We already have the capabilities of printing batteries, RFID tags, and displays so, putting them all together isn’t far off.

I can’t wait for my $50 robot printer. But, then again, I might miss the machine shop.


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Well, we knew something was going to happen, but we weren’t sure what. I’m not sure I would have guessed Microsoft would be releasing a software package though. Yes, as of Today, Microsoft is now an official player in the robotics market with the release of its Robotics Studio.

The software can be downloaded here, and has the following description:


In this open letter from Tandy Trower, the general manager of the Microsoft Robotics Group, he outlines the three main advantages of the Robotics Studio.



There’s a ton of info to wade through but here’s enough to get your feet wet. Here’s the Microsoft Robotics Studio blog. I assume the developers will be communicating more via this. There is also a lengthy (one hour) long interview from Channel 9 with Tandy Trower, the head of the Robotics Studio devteam. Bug reports and feature suggestions can be submitted here. The software is currently for evaluation only and is not intended for commercial release yet. Microsoft has yet to announce when it plans to release a final version.

Robot Magazine has good coverage of the announcement along with plenty of others.

Stay tuned for more information as it comes!

Update: For the Anti-Microsoft crowd, robots.net has posted a much less optimistic view of Microsoft’s Robotics Studio, along with a full copy of the EULA for the software. They do have some good points. Microsoft certainly hasn’t been a fan of open source software.




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