Robots named
Robert, Robbie/Robby, Rob, and the like, reflect an
alliterationtrope in
science fiction in which
robots are given names starting with the letter "r", and particularly with the
phoneme "rob".
Isaac Asimov noted this in-universe in the short story, "Christmas Without Rodney", in which a character says: "There's no law about it, but you've probably noticed for yourself that almost every robot has a name beginning with R. R for robot, I suppose. The usual name is Robert. There must be a million robot Roberts in the northeast corridor alone".[1] This trope has appeared not only in the
English language, but also in languages such as
German and
Russian. Robots named following this trope include:
Actual robots
An early nonfictional "robot" named Robert was a briefly popular children's toy introduced at the 1954 New York Toy Fair, called "Robert the Robot".[2][3]
Fictional characters
Robby the Robot (character), a science-fiction icon, fictional character, and, robot suit, featured in many U.S. sci-fi movies and television
Rob the Robot (Rob the Robot), a fictional character from the eponymous TV show
Rob the Robot (TV series)
Robert the Robot (Fireball XL-5), a fictional character from the 1960s marionette TV show Fireball XL-5
Robbie the Robot (Isaac Asimov), the titular character from the Isaac Asimov short story
"Robbie" (short story)
ROB 64, a robot character in the Star Fox video game series
Robert, a fictional character in the 1967 Soviet science fiction film His Name Was Robert (Russian: Его звали Роберт, romanized: Ego zvali Robert)
Robbie, a dancing robot invented by Brains in the 1971 children's show Here Come the Double Deckers! episode "Robbie the Robot" (1971)
Robbi, a.k.a. ROB 344–66/IIIa, co-pilot of the Fliewatüüt and student of a third class at robot school, in the 1972 German children's show Robbi, Tobbi und das Fliewatüüt
Robert the Robot, a main character in the BBC children's television comedy show Justin's House, beginning in 2011
Robbie, a toy robot that Steve utilizes to spy on Stan in the American Dad! episode "Toy Whorey"
Robbie, a recurring robot constructed by inventor Knox in German series Fix und Foxi, first drawn by Massimo Fecchi (1976)
^Steve Carper. Robots in American Popular Culture (2019).
^Sharon M. Scott, Toys and American Culture: An Encyclopedia (2009), p. 157.
Index of articles associated with the same name
This
article includes a list of related items that share the same name (or similar names). If an
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