# Robby the Robot
**Robby the Robot** is a fictional robot character and movie prop who first appeared in the 1956 MGM science fiction film *Forbidden Planet* and went on to one of the longest careers of any screen robot, in films and television from 1956 into the 2000s.[1](https://www.filmsite.org/robotsinfilm3.html) • [2](https://www.sfsite.com/gary/robb01.htm) Designed by MGM art director Robert Kinoshita, he is widely described as the first celebrity robot of the movies.[1](https://www.filmsite.org/robotsinfilm3.html)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| First appearance | *Forbidden Planet* (MGM, 1956), directed by Fred M. Wilcox; Robby plays the mechanical servant of Dr. Morbius on the planet Altair IV[1](https://www.filmsite.org/robotsinfilm3.html) • [3](https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/forbidden_planet.pdf) |
| Designer | Robert Kinoshita, MGM art director, credited with finalizing the design[4](https://the-robotman.com/all-about-robby) |
| Performers | Western actor Frankie Darro wore the costume; the voice was supplied by Marvin Miller of television's *The Millionaire*[4](https://the-robotman.com/all-about-robby) |
| Size and operation | 6 feet 11 inches tall; a person inside operated the controls, with additional electronic manipulation from outside[5](https://www.tcm.com/articles/18630/forbidden-planet) |
| Second film | *The Invisible Boy* (1957), produced by Nicholas Nayfack to reuse the expensive prop[6](https://www.tcm.com/articles/78608/the-invisible-boy) • [7](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050546/trivia/) |
| Auction record | The original costume sold at Bonhams/TCM in New York on November 21, 2017 for $5,375,000, then a record price for a movie prop[8](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/robby-the-robot-of-forbidden-planet-sells-for-movie-prop-record-5-375-million/) • [4](https://the-robotman.com/all-about-robby) |
| Honor | Inducted into the Robot Hall of Fame at Carnegie Mellon University[4](https://the-robotman.com/all-about-robby) |
## Design and construction
Robby was conceived and built by a team of MGM designers for *Forbidden Planet*, including production design artist Mentor Huebner and Robert Kinoshita, who is credited with finalizing the design.[8](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/robby-the-robot-of-forbidden-planet-sells-for-movie-prop-record-5-375-million/) • [4](https://the-robotman.com/all-about-robby) Bonhams described the result as breaking away from earlier clunky "tin-can" designs for movie robots.[8](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/robby-the-robot-of-forbidden-planet-sells-for-movie-prop-record-5-375-million/) Unlike the sleeker humanoid robots of earlier films such as *Metropolis* (1927) and *The Day the Earth Stood Still* (1951), Robby's look is openly mechanical: a glass dome reveals moving internal parts, and the body shows electrical components, gyroscopes, and flashing lights.[9](https://www.space.com/entertainment/space-movies-shows/forbidden-planet-at-70-why-the-original-sci-fi-blockbuster-is-still-out-of-this-world)
The costume stood 6 feet 11 inches and needed a performer inside to work the controls, supplemented by outside electronic manipulation; it occasionally toppled over anyway, which fed a rumor that Robby was a drunk.[5](https://www.tcm.com/articles/18630/forbidden-planet) Marvin Miller supplied the voice.[4](https://the-robotman.com/all-about-robby)
The cost of building Robby is reported differently by two sources: Fred Barton Productions states the MGM prop shop spent over $125,000, while Bonhams put the figure at $100,000, which it called an unheard-of price for a movie prop at the time.[4](https://the-robotman.com/all-about-robby) • [8](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/robby-the-robot-of-forbidden-planet-sells-for-movie-prop-record-5-375-million/)
## Role in Forbidden Planet
In the film, set in the twenty-third century, a United Planets cruiser travels to Altair IV to investigate the fate of a lost expedition. The sole survivors, Dr. Edward Morbius ([Walter Pidgeon](https://www.edgepedia.org/walter-pidgeon)) and his daughter Altaira ([Anne Francis](https://www.edgepedia.org/anne-francis)), live in a fortified home whose needs are tended by Robby, their mechanical servant.[3](https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/forbidden_planet.pdf) The film is loosely modeled on Shakespeare's *The Tempest*, and Robby corresponds to the loyal sprite [Ariel](https://www.edgepedia.org/ariel-the-tempest).[3](https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/forbidden_planet.pdf)
Robby is a force for good, constructed by Morbius, and his programming follows rules similar to [Isaac Asimov](https://www.edgepedia.org/isaac-asimov)'s Three Laws of Robotics, protecting human life; he also has a sideline replicating clothing, whisky, and other items on demand.[9](https://www.space.com/entertainment/space-movies-shows/forbidden-planet-at-70-why-the-original-sci-fi-blockbuster-is-still-out-of-this-world) The film's promotional poster presented a very different figure, showing Robby carrying an unconscious woman in a sinister pose, a scene that does not occur in the film.[9](https://www.space.com/entertainment/space-movies-shows/forbidden-planet-at-70-why-the-original-sci-fi-blockbuster-is-still-out-of-this-world)
*Forbidden Planet* itself became a landmark: MGM's first major science fiction venture, made on a budget of almost two million dollars, it was added to the [National Film Registry](https://www.edgepedia.org/national-film-registry) in 2013.[3](https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/forbidden_planet.pdf) • [10](https://www.loc.gov/item/prn-13-216/2013-national-film-registry/2013-12-18/) The Library of Congress credits the film with shaping later robot design, noting that Robby "clearly shaped George Lucas's vision for the android servants C-3PO and R2-D2 in *Star Wars* (1977)."[3](https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/forbidden_planet.pdf)
## Later career
Robby was such a hit that MGM reused him the following year in *The Invisible Boy* (1957); producer Nicholas Nayfack, who had formed his own company, wanted another project featuring the robot that had endeared itself to audiences.[5](https://www.tcm.com/articles/18630/forbidden-planet) • [6](https://www.tcm.com/articles/78608/the-invisible-boy) One account of the reuse is more prosaic: Robby was so expensive to build that MGM felt obliged to use him in another project.[7](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050546/trivia/) After that film he vanished from the screen until a cameo in 1984's *Gremlins*, in which he reuses dialogue from *Forbidden Planet*.[5](https://www.tcm.com/articles/18630/forbidden-planet)
Television kept him busy in between and after. His credited appearances include *The Thin Man*, *The Twilight Zone* ("Uncle Simon," 1963, and "The Brain Center at Whipple's," 1964), *The Addams Family* ("Lurch's Little Helper," 1966), *Lost in Space* ("The War of the Robots," 1966, and "The Condemned of Space," 1967), *The Man from U.N.C.L.E.*, *Hazel*, *Columbo* ("Mind over Mayhem," 1974), *Hollywood Boulevard* (1976), *Ark II*, *The New Adventures of Wonder Woman*, *Mork & Mindy*, *The Love Boat*, *Clueless*, *Cherry 2000*, *Earth Girls Are Easy*, *Star Kid*, and *Looney Tunes: Back in Action*.[2](https://www.sfsite.com/gary/robb01.htm) • [4](https://the-robotman.com/all-about-robby)
## The original prop after 1956
The original Robby went under the hammer at MGM's large 1970 auction, ending up with the California prop museum Movie-World, which exhibited him alongside the vehicle he piloted in *Forbidden Planet*; souvenir seekers progressively damaged the costume, and it fell into disrepair.[4](https://the-robotman.com/all-about-robby) The replica builder Fred Barton was later commissioned to restore the original to good-as-new condition, and after Movie-World closed, Robby was sold to a private collector.[4](https://the-robotman.com/all-about-robby)
The prop resurfaced at auction on November 21, 2017, when Bonhams and TCM Auctioneers sold it in New York for $5,375,000, a record price for a movie prop that surpassed the previous marks of $4.6 million for [Marilyn Monroe](https://www.edgepedia.org/marilyn-monroe)'s white dress from *The Seven-Year Itch* and the original 1966 [Batmobile](https://www.edgepedia.org/batmobile).[8](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/robby-the-robot-of-forbidden-planet-sells-for-movie-prop-record-5-375-million/) • [4](https://the-robotman.com/all-about-robby) Because the original is too valuable and fragile to move, Barton's authorized replicas are now used for media and public appearances.[4](https://the-robotman.com/all-about-robby)
## Cultural footprint
Robby's image spread quickly beyond the screen. The Japanese toymaker Nomura produced several versions of an unlicensed tin "Robby" robot in the 1950s and 1960s; examples are held by the [National Air and Space Museum](https://www.edgepedia.org/national-air-and-space-museum), including an X-70 robot toy manufactured in Japan for export to Western markets.[11](https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/toy-x-70-robot/nasm_A20070084000) A toy Robby inspired by the film was given a retail estimate of $4,500 in 2007.[12](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/air-space-magazine/space-toys-132011817/)
His design lineage is direct: the Robot B9 of *Lost in Space* came from the same designer, Robert Kinoshita, and writers on screen science fiction trace a line from Robby to R2-D2.[9](https://www.space.com/entertainment/space-movies-shows/forbidden-planet-at-70-why-the-original-sci-fi-blockbuster-is-still-out-of-this-world) In 2017, Bonhams called Robby "one of the most iconic sci-fi figures to appear on the silver screen," and the Robot Hall of Fame at [Carnegie Mellon University](https://www.edgepedia.org/carnegie-mellon-university) elected him, with Fred Barton and Robert Kinoshita accepting the award on his behalf.[8](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/robby-the-robot-of-forbidden-planet-sells-for-movie-prop-record-5-375-million/) • [4](https://the-robotman.com/all-about-robby)
## References
1. [Robots in Films: An Illustrated History, 1956–1963, Filmsite](https://www.filmsite.org/robotsinfilm3.html)
2. [Gary Westfahl's Bio-Encyclopedia of Science Fiction Film: Robby the Robot, SF Site](https://www.sfsite.com/gary/robb01.htm)
3. [Ian Olney, film essay for "Forbidden Planet," National Film Registry, Library of Congress](https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/forbidden_planet.pdf)
4. [All About Robby, Fred Barton Productions](https://the-robotman.com/all-about-robby)
5. [Forbidden Planet, Turner Classic Movies article](https://www.tcm.com/articles/18630/forbidden-planet)
6. [The Invisible Boy, Turner Classic Movies article](https://www.tcm.com/articles/78608/the-invisible-boy)
7. [The Invisible Boy (1957) trivia, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050546/trivia/)
8. [Robby the Robot, of "Forbidden Planet," sells for movie prop record $5.375 million, CBS News (November 22, 2017)](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/robby-the-robot-of-forbidden-planet-sells-for-movie-prop-record-5-375-million/)
9. ["Forbidden Planet" at 70: Why the original sci-fi blockbuster is still out of this world, Space.com](https://www.space.com/entertainment/space-movies-shows/forbidden-planet-at-70-why-the-original-sci-fi-blockbuster-is-still-out-of-this-world)
10. [Cinematic with the Right Stuff Marks 2013 National Film Registry, Library of Congress](https://www.loc.gov/item/prn-13-216/2013-national-film-registry/2013-12-18/)
11. [Toy, X-70 Robot, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution](https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/toy-x-70-robot/nasm_A20070084000)
12. [Space Toys, Smithsonian Magazine](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/air-space-magazine/space-toys-132011817/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Technology and the built world › Computing and digital systems › Artificial intelligence and data › Applied AI, people, and society › AI in fiction and culture › AI in film*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 15, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 15, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license