Redefining Robots
July Festival Celebrates Robotics' Place in Pittsburgh's History, Art and Technology

PITTSBURGH – When some people hear “robots,” they conjure thoughts and images of humanoid creatures doing dangerous or monotonous tasks most people would prefer not to do.

But the folks at Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute want to change that perception by letting everyone see for themselves that robots can do much, much more. Today, robots are found in artworks, as warning or welcoming devices, as tools to document history and heritage and as entertaining distractions. They assist doctors performing surgery, explore distant planets, and are beginning to help older Americans and those with disabilities improve their quality of life.

Carnegie Mellon roboticists and their colleagues are inviting everyone to take part in the Robot 250 Festival to see with their own eyes just what a robot can do. The festival, which runs from July 11– 27, is the culmination of Robot 250, a year-long, city-wide community art and technology program designed in conjunction with Pittsburgh’s 250th anniversary that has turned the city into a living, breathing learning lab by enabling students, families, artists and the public to build their own customized robots.

Festival attendees will see 11 gigantic robotic installations as well as galleries full of robots created by children, adults and families from Pittsburgh’s diverse communities on display at cultural sites all over Pittsburgh. They celebrate art while enlarging the viewer’s perception of what a robot is. Far from the stereotypical “mechanical men,” these BigBots range in diversity from Osman Khan’s “Mower,” a robotic sheep “feasting” on the lawn at Phipps Conservatory to Jennifer Gooch’s “Rise and Fall” at Flagstaff Hill, which will explore the meaning of flags and how their position on a pole can portray the status of the “state” they represent.

Illah Nourbakhsh, associate professor of robotics at Carnegie Mellon is one of the people who conceived Robot 250. “We had been working on educational robotics projects and decided to make art and design a larger part of them,” he said. “We asked ourselves, what’s the largest public robotics education program we can imagine that focuses on using art and design to get people interested in science and technology?”

About a year ago, Nourbakhsh, along with other faculty, staff and graduate students of the Robotics Institute, answered that question by facilitating a series of 13 workshops in which artists and members of several Pittsburgh communities created robots that would be useful or appropriate in their neighborhoods.

In Lawrenceville, sensor-based robots were created to warn of dangerous road conditions like speeding; in Homewood, middle-school-aged girls gathered at the YWCA and YMCA to document the history and heritage of East-End neighborhoods; and across the river on the South Side, artists at the Brew House created “Painting Robot,” a welded steel rover with a paint marker. In all, some 75 robots were created and will be on display at four Robot 250 sites throughout the city.

"We were looking for a way to make robotics more accessible,” said Georgia Tech assistant professor Carl DiSalvo, another Robot 250 visionary who holds a Ph.D. in design from Carnegie Mellon. “The arts-based approach differentiates us and picks up on the rich arts tradition at Carnegie Mellon and in the Pittsburgh region. Art also makes technology culturally significant. We can question it and make it in a way that is more human.”

Pittsburgh is an ideal setting for the Robot 250 Festival, as it is home to Carnegie Mellon’s Robotics Institute, one of the only organizations in the world that offers a Ph.D. program in robotics. The city is also at the forefront of robotics research and innovation. An ever-growing and diverse community of robotics companies has launched businesses like Blueroof Technologies, a nonprofit corporation that is making “smart” robot-controlled houses that attend to the needs of senior citizens; and Interbots™, a company, that grew out of a university project and is now producing robotic characters that provide interactive entertainment.

“As Pittsburgh celebrates its 250th anniversary, it is appropriate that the celebrations include our region’s leading role in robotics, which stretches all the way back to the 20s and 30s with pioneering work by Westinghouse,” said Dennis Bateman, Robot 250 project director. “In addition to looking back, Robot 250 will highlight the future of Pittsburgh, emphasizing educational and creative opportunities in robotics.”

Carnegie Mellon University will host a media event to kick off the Robot 250 Festival at 10 a.m., Thursday, July 10, at the Helen Wayne Rauh Theater in the Purnell Center for the Arts on the university campus. Get a sneak preview of the BigBots before they go on display. Meet creators of Robot 250 and the people who participated in the program to build their own robots. Media will also be invited to take a trolley tour of the BigBot sites with the artists who created them and have one-on-one time with the Robot 250 visionaries. For more information on the media event contact Anne Watzman at 412-268-3830 or aw16@andrew.cmu.edu, or Byron Spice at 412-268-9068 or bspice@cs.cmu.edu.

For more information about Robot 250 sites, exhibits and events contact Bridget McNie at 412-224-6006 or bridgetm@jackhorner.com.

About Robot 250
Robot 250 is a massive city-wide community art and technology program culminating in a two-week festival in July with exhibits, workshops, outdoor displays, movies and other installations throughout the Pittsburgh area. It was launched by Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh with program support from a host of local community groups, The Heinz Endowments, The Grable Foundation, The Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation, the Port Authority of Allegheny County and City Paper. Participants include middle school students, artists, families and the general public, as well as Carnegie Mellon, Georgia Tech and University of Pittsburgh faculty, staff and students. Participant sites include The Andy Warhol Museum, The Brew House Association, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Museum of Art, Carnegie Science Center, The Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, CitiParks, CMITES, Manchester Craftsmens’ Guild, The Mattress Factory, Neighborhood Nets, Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, PPG Plaza, YouthPlaces and the YWCA.

Available for Interviews
Illah Nourbakhsh, associate professor, Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute
Dennis Bateman, Robot 250 project director
Carl DiSalvo, assistant professor, the Georgia Institute of Technology
Ian Ingram, BigBot curator; senior research associate and artist-in-residence at Carnegie Mellon University
BigBot artists upon request

To learn more about Robot 250, or to download a map of events, visit www.robot250.org.

Related Media Coverage:
Event Photos
Pittburgh Tribune Review
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
PopCity Media
And other Media!

Contact:
Bridget McNie
Robot 250
412.224.6006
bridgetm@jackhorner.com

Anne Watzman
Carnegie Mellon University
412.268.3830
aw16@andrew.cmu.edu