Robert Kinoshita, R.I.P.

Above, a replica Robby the Robot at the 2013 Monsterpalooza. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

The name Robert Kinoshita is not a very familiar name to people, but he is well-known to fans of classic science-fiction.

According to the Rafu Shimpo:

Robert Kinoshita, whose robot designs have become American pop culture icons, passed away on Dec. 9.

Kinoshita designed the title character of Tobor The Great (1954), Robby the Robot of Forbidden Planet (1956) and the robot from television's Lost In Space, among others.

He was 100 years old.

To read more, go here.

Robby The Robot

Above, a replica Robby the Robot at this year's Monsterpalooza.  Photo by Armand Vaquer.

One 1950s icon was not even human (well, when there wasn't a man inside).

The icon is Robby the Robot from Forbidden Planet (1956). Besides Forbidden Planet, Robby has appeared in other movies and television shows over the decades.

According to Wikipedia:

Robby the Robot is a 7-foot (2.1 m) tall fictional robot originally created in the mid-1950s by MGM's prop department.^[1] 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.^[2] The robot quickly became a science fiction icon in the decades that followed.

The current whereabouts of Robby The Robot?

Wikipedia says:

The original Robby the Robot suit continues to reside today in Writer/Director William Malone's collection; Malone is the world's foremost collector of original Forbidden Planet materials.