Today is Robby, the Robot's (of Forbidden Planet fame) 54th birthday, and we'd like to celebrate by telling the story of Robby's restoration by Fred Barton, AKA 'The Robotman', the world's leading producer of studio-licensed celebrity robots.

 Fred first met Robby in person in the 1970's at Movie World in southern California, and was inspired to make a reproduction at home. He turned leg parts on a pottery wheel, vacuum formed parts in his mother's kitchen, molded plaster, and made parts in shop class. After a steady year of work, Fred debuted the Robby costume at a Star Trek convention in 1974 to cheers.

 17-year-old Fred next took his Robby to meet the original at Movie World. Impressed with Fred's work, the owner of Movie World asked Fred to restore the original Robby, so Fred packed Robby into his parent's '71 Lincoln Continental and took him home.

 He carefully molded every part of Robby, taking it apart and repairing decades of damage and wear-and-tear. After two months of work, the original Robby was returned to Movie World, where Fred continued to be his caretaker, making and replacing parts as they were stolen by souvenir hunters.

 Movie World eventually closed and Robby was sold to a private collector. Media appearances of Robby have since been made by Fred's replica Robby, and he was granted the first-ever license to make a full-size Robby by Warner Bros, so collectors can now purchase fully mechanized and computerized Robby statues.

 Visit Museum of Robots' Celebrity Robots Hall of Fame to see more about Robby and Forbidden Planet: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Kubrick/98/161/26

 For the full story of Robby's restoration, visit the Museum of Robots' Annex for the Robby Restoration exhibit:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Imzadi/45/238/500/?title=Museum%20of%20Robots%20A...