Right: The 1½ scale plan and elevations for Robby the Robot, drawn by draftsman Bob Kinoshita. This master plan for building Robby refers to twelve additional F.S.D. (full scale drawing) sheets. Not listed are F.S.D. 2D, shown left, Kinoshita’s design for the operation of the head dome mechanisms, and F.S.D. 8A, B,C, and D, which detail a variety of hand attachments, including a beverage dispenser, pliers, and a cigar lighter. Only the pliers were ever used, in the scene where Robby pilots the ship at the end of the film. The three digit rubber hand used most of the time, featuring an opposable thumb, was developed in the prop shop during construction. Plastic shutters on canvas backing, like the cover of a roll top desk, were to facilitate the movement of Robby’s legs at the back of the knee and at the front and back of the pelvis where the legs joined the body. The concept was abandoned at the pelvis during construction and a single piece of sliding plastic was used instead, but the prop shop cut the aperture for the leg join[t] too high in the front and a piece of plastic not part of the original design had to be added to cover the gaping holes. Ventilating fins (indicated by “see sht 3” at right) were to be glued onto the head dome to mask the placement of holes for air circulation, but the holes were never drilled for fear they would show up on certain camera angles, making Robby a suffocating environment for his operator. (Technical assistance by Greg Feret).

Frederick S. Clarke and Steve Rubin. “Making Forbidden Planet.” Cinefantastique, vol. 8, no.s 2-3 (Spring 1979): pp. 4-67. [caption photo on page 46, photos on pages 46 and 47].