When a movie star like C-3PO throws metallic support behind the Carnegie Science Center's roboworld project -- replete with plummy English accent -- it makes the entire undertaking seem surreal.

But next spring, roboworld will be 100-percent nuts-and-bolts real -- and very much hands-on -- when the science center on the North Shore opens the nation's largest robotics exhibition.

The $3.4 million permanent exhibition will occupy 6,000 square feet of the center's second floor and also serve as home for Carnegie Mellon University's Robot Hall of Fame.

"I think it will be absolutely terrific," said Anthony Daniels, the English actor who starred as the proper, butler-like robot C-3PO in "Star Wars" movies. Noting the city's rich history of robotics development, he said, "I think it is highly suitable that it will be here in Pittsburgh in this science museum."

The exhibit, which is still being designed, will be the most comprehensive in the nation and feature more than 30 interactive exhibit stations in the three thematic areas of robotic sensing, thinking and acting. Robots will demonstrate how they walk, roll, climb, fly, grasp and use tools, collect materials and build structures.

The exhibition will meld education and entertainment, with the goal of inspiring students to enter the field. For that reason, roboworld also will feature a robot workshop where people can experience the latest in technology and interact with scientists working in the field. Visitors will be able to create and test their own robots.

"It will showcase the latest in robotics technology -- much of which has been developed in this region -- and help visitors understand the tremendous impact robotics has on everyday life for each and every one of us," Joanna Haas, science center director, said, noting that "Robo-burgh" has become center stage for many robotics advancements.

In a later news conference, Carnegie Mellon announced the induction of robots Raibert Hopper, NavLab 5, LEGO Mindstorms and the fictional Lt. Cmdr. Data into its Robot Hall of Fame.

Raibert Hopper is a one-legged robot that explored principles of dynamic balance central to agile movement by bipedal (two-legged) and quadrapedal (four-legged) robots. NavLab5, one of a series of autonomous vehicles developed at Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Institute, steered itself coast-to-coast on public highways in 1995. LEGO Mindstorms is a robotics kit that made robots accessible to the masses. And Lt. Cmdr. Data was the android with super strength and memory featured in "Star Trek: The Next Generation" television shows from 1987 to 1994. He was played by actor Brent Spiner.

The Robot Hall of Fame, which Carnegie Mellon's School of Computer Science created in 2003, recognizes excellence in robotics technology worldwide and honors fictional and real robots that have inspired and embodied breakthroughs and accomplishments in the field. Each year a jury of scholars, researchers, writers, designers and entrepreneurs selects the robots to be recognized and inducted into the hall of fame.

Also on hand for yesterday's announcement was Mark Hamill, the actor who played Luke Skywalker in the "Star Wars" films.

Mr. Hamill, who lived in the Pittsburgh area for two years as a child, said he's been interested in science fiction films his entire life and was encouraged about what the future held but acknowledged that some things like domed cities and flying cars are mostly the stuff of dreams.

Most of what happened in "Star Wars" is "scientifically ridiculous," he said.

He said he loved the robot characters most of all because they were more human than Luke, his own character.

"Science trumps the arts," he said, "but everyone to the core still has the fun still in them which sparks enthusiasm for possibilities down the road."

But it was the silver-tongued Mr. Daniels who served as master of ceremonies yesterday, and for good reason.

The fussy, anxiety-ridden C-3PO he played was inducted into the hall of fame in 2004 for bridging the gap between humans and robots. C-3PO is "the ultimate social robot" who continues to inspire scientists "to create real robots with fluent language and communication skills."

Mr. Daniels, wearing a black suit with a gold bow tie, said the golden robot he played is "the gold standard" of humanoid robots.

"We're quite a few decades away from having a self-energized, bipedal robot that's cognitive and fully socialized in our homes," he said. "But progress is being made."