Snake robots, dancing Keepon robots, breathtaking GigaPan Camerapanoramas and a sheep that mows grass instead of eating it, areCarnegie Mellon's contributions to this year's Wired NextFest, hostedfree to the public by Wired Magazine at Chicago's Millennium Park Sept.25-Oct. 12.

The snake robots developed for urbansearch and rescue by Associate Robotics Professor Howie Choset, cancrawl, swim and climb poles.

Robotics doctoralstudent Marek Michalowski will showcase three small yellow robots namedKeepon. Originally designed by a Japanese researcher to interact withchildren with developmental disorders, Michalowski has given Keepon anew role in human-robot interaction by teaching it to dance. This newattribute has brought Keepon and its developers international acclaimand monetary prizes.

Robotics doctoral studentMarek Michalowski will showcase three small, yellow Keepon robots.Originally developed by a Japanese researcher to interact withemotionally disturbed children, Michalowsksi has given the Keepons anew role in human-robot interaction by teaching them how to dance. Thisnew attribute has brought them and their developers internationalacclaim and monetary prizes.

Carnegie Mellon'sGigaPan camera system developed by Associate Robotics Professor IllahNourbakhsh and Carnegie Mellon West Senior Project Scientist RandySargent also will be on display in the NextFest robotics section. TheGigapan is a robotic device that attaches to any digital camera,enabling the user to shoot interactive, multibillion-pixel panoramasthat can be explored in great depth on the Internet. In addition tofeaturing breathtaking panoramas from around the world, this exhibitwill include a kiosk featuring iconic pictures of the city of Chicago.They™re already on view at http://www.gigapan.org/searchGigapansList.php?keywords=chicago.

The fourth exhibit is Mower, or Moe, a robotic Styrofoam sheep thatmows lawns. Mower is the creation of Osman Khan, a visiting assistantprofessor of art at Carnegie Mellon and Joshua Shapiro, a researcher atthe Robotics Institute's CREATE Lab.

Wired NextFestis described as the premier showcase of the global innovationstransforming our world. Now in its fifth year, Wired's gallery of thefuture includes unique and bold exhibits of sustainable design, nextgeneration healthcare, interactive art and games, humanoid robotics andmore.

See the Snakebots:
Keepon
GigaPan
Mower, the robotic sheep
More on Wired's NextFest