Wall-E or Johnny 5 ? Or how about loyal `` Jetsons '' maid Rosie ? Which of those fictional robots deserves a space in the Robot Hall of Fame ? Or in the real world , how about the robots that troops use to dispose of bombs , or one that 's made it all the way to the International Space Station ? For the first time , you get to help decide . Created in 2003 at Carnegie Mellon University , the Robot Hall of Fame recognizes excellence in robotics technology , both real and fictional . So far , the hall has honored 21 robots , including such robo-stalwarts as NASA 's Mars Sojourner , Honda 's ASIMO and R2-D2 and C-3PO from `` Star Wars . '' This year , the public gets to vote on who 's inducted . `` 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 , the hall 's director and a 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 . '' Five robots we wish were real ... and five we 're glad are n't . Members of the Robot Hall of Fame are showcased in `` Roboworld , '' a $ 3.5 million exhibit at the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh . The center calls it `` the world 's largest and most comprehensive permanent robotics exhibition . '' Visitors to the museum 's website may vote for one of three nominees in each of four categories . The categories , and nominees , are : . Education & Consumer . • Aldebaran Robotics ' NAO , a 22-inch-tall humanoid that is used worldwide in education ; . • iRobot 's Create , a programmable robot based on the company 's popular robotic vacuum cleaner , Roomba ; . • VEX Robotics Design System , a kit for designing and building robots that is widely used in the classroom and competitions . Entertainment . • WALL-E , the garbage-collector robot who 's the hero of Pixar 's 2008 animated sci-fi film of the same name ; . • Johnny 5 , a prototype military robot that learns to embrace life in the 1986 science-fiction comedy `` Short Circuit '' ; . • Rosie , a maid robot with motherly qualities that took care of a human family on `` The Jetsons , '' a Hanna-Barbera animated sitcom first broadcast on ABC in 1962 . Read more about robots on CNN 's What 's Next blog . Industrial & Service . • iRobot 's PackBot , which performs bomb disposal and other dangerous assignments for the U.S. military ; . • Amazon-owned Kiva System 's autonomous warehouse robots , which speed the processing of customer orders ; . • Jason , a remotely operated undersea vehicle designed and built by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution , which has explored hydrothermal vents in the Pacific , Atlantic and Indian Oceans . Research . • BigDog , a four-legged robot the size of a small mule , which was developed by Boston Dynamics for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to maneuver with heavy loads over rough terrain ; . • PR2 , a two-armed robot built by Willow Garage that can navigate human environments and has the dexterity to grasp and manipulate objects ; . • Robonaut , a dexterous , two-armed robot developed by NASA 's Johnson Space Center to help humans work in space ; the latest version , Robonaut 2 , was launched to the International Space Station in February 2011 . The robots nominated were selected by a group of 107 robotics professionals , researchers and others . This year 's four inductees will be decided half by public vote and half by the committee of voters . Winners will be announced October 23 at a ceremony at the Carnegie Science Center . Public voting is open until September 30 . How roboticists construct their creations .
The public can vote on this year 's inductees to the Robot Hall of Fame . The hall , at Carnegie Mellon University , honors both real and fictional robots . Robots are getting smarter all the time thanks in part to advances in artificial intelligence ( AI ) that have made them more capable than ever before. Voting , at the hall 's website , is open until September 30 .