Douglas M. Gaus
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Model Citizen:  Bob Kinoshita, Feb 24, 1914 - December 9, 2014

1/20/2015

2 Comments

 
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Bob Kinoshita, Hollywood draftsman, designer, and art director, passed away early last December at the young age of 100..He is responsible for conceiving two of the most famous and iconic sci-fi robots of all time...the eldest was Robbie the Robot (from the 1956 movie "Forbidden Planet" and 1957's "Invisible Boy") along with the younger B9 (a.k.a. the "robot" from Irwin Allen's 60's tv show, "Lost in Space", which ran from 1965-1968). 

While coming up with Robbie back in the 50's, he was among five designers slated to work on possible robot designs for the pending movie...and between them had sketched a couple thousand drawings...Out of sheer frustration with working on all the 2D designs, he decided to make a small model, of his vision of the robot, around 8 or 9 inches tall, built of wood and plastic...upon completion, he showed it to the art director for the movie, whom grabbed it from his hands and ran with it into the producer's office...the AD came back just as exuberant 10 minutes later and told him "to draw it up!"...Kinoshita credits that series of events to the birth of Robbie..

Prior to that, lIke many Japanese-Americans, Bob and his wife Lillian spent time in an internment camp in Arizona during WWII...but luckily were released while the war was still going on...At that time, he learned industrial design and plastic fabrication where he designed washing machines for the military...I can see how his early industrial design influences were incorporated into later designs for the movies he worked on, especially the robots and space ships...He has said in interviews that one of his goals in designing the iconic robots was to camouflage the fact that a person would be inside...what better way to camouflage a person inside than to use industrial looking parts, like accordion style dryer vents (retractable arms for Robbie and B9), as well as general industrial looking fabrication using metal, plastic and rubber! 

Bob's classic, cool, and timeless designs have inspired many children to dream outside of this ordinary life on planet earth.  Those dreams include wild space adventures and exploration, encounters with alien beings and the possibilities of combining computers and working mechanisms and devices to create robots (robotic humans) that are programmed to think, reason, and interact with "us" humans .. I'm one of those many inspired by his creations and proud of it...

Alhough Bob is no longer here, his designs have already stood the test of time for more than half a century.. and will likely inspire many more in the future, probably decades, and more likely centuries, in the future!



2 Comments
Milton Clark
6/7/2019 10:43:59 am

As a child of the 1960's, the robot from the "Lost In Space" television show was a thing of wonder. At that time I had never seen the movie "Forbidden Planet" so I know nothing of Robbie the Robot. Finding that the same person designed both of these iconic representations of early artificial intelligence is truly a testament to his creative talents. In my opinion his goal of suspension of belief that a man was inside the suit was achieved with the "B9" robot from "Lost In Space". When the robot's upper half could spin around 180 degree and move in the opposite direction, that single simple action made the robot "real". In my opinion, with today's age of CGI and special effects in general, we will still get to see cool stuff, but never again will we ask ourselves, 'How did they do that?'

Reply
Doug
6/7/2019 02:51:47 pm

thanks for your comments! i too, had the same wonderment for the show, watching the Robot move and interact with the Robinson family on Lost in Space. I also long for the time where people like Bob Kinoshita, and others, used their hands to inspire and create...instead of their computers ;(

On a related note, I am amazed and hold utter respect for the manufacturers of yesteryear, where they made beautiful tube radios, classic automobiles and other everyday but creative and solidly built items without the luxury of computers and CAD!

The Editor,
NewProductConsultant.com


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