Robby the Robot was a fictional character who had a number of appearances in science fiction movies from the 1950s onward. "Robby" was a mechanical suit designed for an actor to wear, to play the part of a robot. It was originally designed for the 1956 MGM movie Forbidden Planet, and it became an icon representing the genre of science fiction films.

The "Robby" robot suit was also reused in a lesser movie called The Invisible Boy, and it made cameo appearances in several other movies and TV shows over the next few decades.

Robbie differed from his successors in that he walked (somewhat awkwardly), while later models by his designer (Robert Kinoshita) such as Robot B-9 of Lost in Space moved smoothly on a mechanical base box.

Before the appearance of Robbie, robots in movies and plays tended to lack characteristics attributable as personality, being simple mechanical devices.

Appearances of Robby the Robot and others of his kind (robot as a character):

• Forbidden Planet (1956)
• The Invisible Boy (1958)
• The Twilight Zone (1962)
• Lost in Space (TV show) Model B9, similar to original "Robby" with minor changes to the topmost and bottommost portions.
• Ark II (Saturday morning TV show from Filmation)
• Columbo Mind over Mayhem 1974 (IMDB)
• Star Wars (1977) R2-D2 and C-3PO
• Mork & Mindy (TV show)
• Metal Mickey (TV) (1980)
• Gremlins (1984)
• Cherry 2000 (1987)
• Futurama, a television series containing not only the principle character Bender, but also an extensive cast of robotic characters including actors in the robotic soap opera All my Circuits both as the characters they played and as actors outside of the teleplay, various criminal robots, and a viciously destructive gigantic robotic Santa Claus
• Looney Tunes:Back in Action

In 2004, Robby the Robot was inducted into the Robot Hall of Fame.

See also

• List of fictional robots

External links

• Internet Movie Database entry