The novelty of a full-size robotic Coke can wandering the aisles of neighborhood supermarkets was pretty newsworthy back in the early '80s, and would undoubtedly still cause quite a stir among today's tech-savvy shoppers. "Print news and television couldn't get enough of Cobot," says Paul. "Supermarket chains were obvious venues to promote the Coca-Cola brand, so as soon as the robots were deployed, they were appearing everywhere. Its celebrity status became a natural when Coca-Cola took its products to trade show floors."
One Cobot career highlight included a brief appearance at the 1980 Winter Olympics Games where it "skated" among world class contenders on ice. Green also recalls the Cobot making guest appearances with celebrities, such as Bill Cosby and Muhammad Ali.
Because of the Cobot's enhanced visibility both at home and abroad, Green found himself producing far more of the full-size Cobots than he ever dreamed would be necessary. From original estimates of 10-20 units, the final number produced ended up somewhere around 275, according to Green. Coca-Cola eventually subsidized sales of the Cobots to bottlers in the U.S. and over 30 countries around the world. Evidence of the Cobot phenomenon can still be found on promotional materials printed in Australia, Canada, England, Germany, and Japan, among others.
One gimmick that caught on with many bottlers around the world was staging contests that allowed consumers to name the robot, which at the time was still referred to generically as "The Coca-Cola Robot" (the "Cobot" name was devised in-house at Creative Systems, but was not immediately formalized).
True to the spirit of acting, the Cobot could take on any number of identities in addition to adopting new names. The robot was sent to bottlers with a kit allowing them to brand it with any one of Coca-Cola's soft-drink varieties of the day. Shedding the familiar red and white Coke deco, the robot could take on the guise of Sprite, Mello-Yello, Fanta, or any other beverage brand owned by Coca-Cola. The kit included an interchangeable magnetic brand panel that could be applied and removed from the robot's metallic body, an 8-track with the appropriate sound effects and jingles, and a means to swap out the soda bottles that were attached to the robot's feet.
