Robby the Robot

Robby the Robot is a 7-foot tall fictional robot originally created in the mid-1950s by MGM's prop department, first appearing in the 1956 MGM movie Forbidden Planet. The initial design was sketched by Arnold "Buddy" Gillespie, refined by production illustrator Mentor Huebner, and then turned into reality under the direction of mechanical designer Robert Kinoshita. The robot quickly became a science fiction icon in the decades that followed.

In Forbidden Planet, Robby exhibited artificial intelligence, but with a distinct personality that showed a (possibly unintentional) dry wit, presumably programmed by Dr. Morbius. He was instructed by Morbius to be helpful to the Earth starship crew; he synthesized and transported to their landing site almost 10 tons of "isotope 217" a lighter-weight though effective replacement for the requested lead shielding needed by its crew.

On the poster for MGM's colorful classic Robby the Robot was billed alongside the other actors, who included Leslie Nielsenand Anne Francis. Unlike many other movie robots that came before him, Robby was meant to help his human counterparts. He also had the ability to speak and had a killer sense of humor("Sorry, Miss, I was giving myself an oil-job").

Robby made a number of subsequent appearances in science fiction movies and television programs, usually without specific reference to the original film character, like the movie The Invisible Boy(1957). It made several further appearances in other movies and TV shows over the next few decades, including episodes of The Thin Man, The Addams Family, Twilight Zone, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Mork & Mindy, Lost in Space, Columbo, Holmes and Yo-Yo, Wonder Woman... Thanks to ScienceFictionArchives.com's friend, director Joe Dante, makes a cameo appearance in his movies Gremlins and Looney Tunes: Back in Action. This Robby replica was made by Fred Barton Company