Robby The Robot - Display and Reproductions

Display and Reproductions

In 1971 Robby the Robot was sold to Jim Brucker and put on display at Movie World / Cars of the Stars Museum in Buena Park, California; where he was often vandalized by visitors to the museum. Fred Barton, a robot historian, was commissioned with restoring Robby to his original state while the robot was on display at the museum; Barton used original duplicate replacement parts made for Forbidden Planet by MGM's prop department. However the Robby would find himself in a desperate condition again several years later. In 1980 the museum closed its doors. Robby, along with his vehicle, original spare parts, and shipping containers were sold to William Malone. Malone noted that Robby had once again fallen into a state of disrepair. Having built the first ever replica of Robby in 1973, Malone was able to restore Robby to its original condition using parts which the original builders had placed in Robby's stage cases some 25 years earlier.

Fred Barton built the 2nd replica of Robby, which appeared at the 1974 Star Trek Convention in Los Angeles. Barton continues to produce Robby replicas today. His replicas are currently on display at the Experience Music Project and Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame in Seattle, Washington, and at the Metreon entertainment complex in San Francisco. There are, however, many Robby recreations on display in various venues. Full-sized, remote-controlled reproductions of Barton's restoration are available from Hammacher Schlemmer or ordered directly from Fred Barton Productions, a company that manufacturers various full size movie and TV robot reproductions under license for the science fiction collectors' market.

The original Robby the Robot continues to reside in Writer/Director William Malone's collection today.