You Know You’re an Engineer if... You Watched These Movies and TV Shows as a Kid

Every kid who grew up to be an engineer loved robots. The love of science fiction and robots seems to follow closely on  the heels of the fascination with dinosaurs.

Some of these movies were scary for a kid, like the deadly robot in The Day the Earth Stood Still. Others were lovable, like Robbie the Robot in Forbidden Planet. Some were terrifying in a more realistic way, such as HAL in 2001 a Space Odyssey was its nightmarish calm and patronizing tone.

Here’s a look at robots depicted in movies and on TV during the 1950s and 1960s. Here’s a collection of the classics. We’ve omitted the scores of forgettable B movies such as Santa Claus Conquers the Martians and Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine.

Rob Spiegel has covered automation and control for 19 years, 17 of them for Design News. Other topics he has covered include supply chain technology, alternative energy, and cyber security. For 10 years, he was owner and publisher of the food magazine Chile Pepper.