Anyone with the right amount of passion and a fat savings account can do that.īut Rigg has Big League abilities when it comes to engineering, design and fabrication. It’s one thing to amass a collection of something. Due to time constraints he now limits his tours to journalists, authors and members of the robot press. In the museum’s earlier days, Rigg let the public schedule private tours. Rigg, a fabulous engineer and fine musician, cut all the sound pipes and created the computerized arrangements to songs like Billy Joel’s “Uptown Girl,” which the Machine Man Band performed at ear-splitting jubilance. Two tall robots (about 5 feet each) contain percussion and instrumentation to rival the Riverfront Park Carrousel. The Machine Man Band is a marvel unto itself. Those stubby robots from “Silent Running,” Huey, Dewey and Louie. And Gort, the robot that held the world in check in “The Day the Earth Stood Still,” another flick from my boyhood. “You used to be able to skateboard or ride a bike through the aisles,” said Rigg with an amused chuckle. Back then, the collection was maybe half what it is now. It’s been 13 years since my first visit to this barn of enchantment. “For your convenience, I am modified to respond to the name Robby,” a Robby tells me when I wander by. The exhibits range from highly prized Japanese tin toys to full-sized, hand-built movie robots like those lovable scene-stealers from “Star Wars,” the homicidal Terminator and Robby the Robot from “Forbidden Planet,” the 1956 sci-fi classic. John Rigg, the museum’s owner, curator and mad scientist, estimates his collection at 4,000 pieces – and growing. The Robot Hut is, in fact, one of the largest privately owned shrines to pop culture robots. I drove a half-hour northeast from Spokane the other day, headed for one of the area’s best-kept secrets.Īnother 3 miles of country road led me to a red metal building that has nothing at all to do with the surrounding farms, tractors or livestock.
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