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How was your week? We got to spend a couple of days trekking around the Carnegie Mellon campus in Pittsburgh, PA to check out some of the latest projects from the school's world renowned Robotics Institute -- a trip that culminated with the bi-annual induction ceremony from the CMU-sponsored Robot Hall of Fame. Given all the craziness of the past seven days, you might have missed some of the awesomeness, but fear not, we've got it all for you here in one handy place -- plus a couple of videos from the trip that we haven't shown you yet. Join us after the break to catch up.

Continue reading Butlers, lunar rovers, snakes and airboats: the best of Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Institute

Butlers, lunar rovers, snakes and airboats: the best of Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Institute originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 27 Oct 2012 12:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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At school like Carnegie Mellon, it sort of figures that you'd find robots just about everywhere, performing the sorts of tasks we've traditionally left to us more fleshy types. In the two days we've spent on campus, we've seen 'bots do just about everything -- some far more autonomously than others. Take Roboceptionist -- the robotic secretary was one of the first intelligent beings we encountered upon arriving on the premises, artificial or otherwise, greeting us from a wooden kiosk near the entrance to Newell-Simon Hall.

The receptionist's creators named him Marion "Tank" Lefleur -- but don't call him "Marion." It's really a sort of a "Boy Named Sue" scenario, and calling him by his birth name is a surefire way of getting on his bad side. When he's not getting irritated, Tank's tasked with helping you find things on campus -- people, halls, food -- by way of a small keyboard. He's got a surprisingly complex backstory that informs his answers. Ask him how his mom and dad are doing and you're bound to get some fairly bizarre responses -- same with more straight forward questions about finding a place to eat on campus, for that matter.

Gallery: Carnegie Mellon robotic servants