Robotics Innovation Center

Hazelwood once forged steel for the industrial age. Today, inside the Robotics Innovation Center (RIC), Carnegie Mellon is forging something new—a hub where robotics, automation, and artificial intelligence move from theory to real-world impact.

Long before this building existed, the work that made it possible was underway in labs, field tests, and archives preserving the story of how CMU helped define modern robotics.

Building the RIC exhibit meant deciding which robots could tell that story best, not just technically but historically. From Dante II, which descended into a volcano to test robotic exploration in extreme environments…to the student-built Iris lunar rover, pointing toward robotics beyond Earth…to modular Snakebots, showing how flexibility reshapes robotic design.

Drawn from materials preserved in the Carnegie Mellon University Archives, this work became physical storytelling through the Robotics Project, led by Kathleen Donahoe, with exhibit development by Julia Corrin, Heidi Wiren Kébé, and me, in collaboration with the School of Computer Science and the College of Engineering.

In Hazelwood, Pittsburgh’s legacy of making meets CMU’s legacy of imagining, and the history of robotics becomes part of the space shaping its future at Carnegie Mellon University.

Atrium Hanging Robots

CMU & Steel

History of Robotics Case

Exhibition News Stories

Exhibition Social Media Stories