In addition to meeting the Cobot at any number of supermarket venues around the world, some lucky shoppers could actually take home a miniaturized remote-controlled version sold alongside Coca-Cola products. Merchandising the toy Cobot seemed like a no-brainer given the popularity of Star Wars among kids, and Coca-Cola was all too happy to have consumers take home what was essentially a piece of brand advertising. Lucasfilm, however, saw a potential licensing conflict -- believing the Cobot resembled R2-D2, they felt it could conceivably infringe on Kenner's own remote-controlled version of the astromech droid.
Happily, an arrangement was struck -- Coke would manufacture no more than 1,000 units of the Cobot miniature, distributing them through only three regional U.S. test markets, including the Coca-Cola store in Atlanta. Lucasfilm would receive a royalty on their sales, and R2-D2's original design patent would be listed on the box and toy.
According to Green, the Cobot toy was the fastest selling near-pack premium ever to be sold through Atlanta's Coca-Cola store at the time, which he recalls cost around $23. Like its larger counterpart, the miniature Cobot could move forward and backwards, turn, spin its dome, flash its "SMILE", and make electronic beeping sounds. Green also remembers that an extremely rare variation of the Cobot toy was distributed by Foodland Markets in Atlanta, which featured a flashy grocer uniform decal applied over the standard Coca-Cola graphics.
Michael Paul still displays one of the Cobot toys in his company office, which travels in its own special showcase display to trade shows. "Cobot will always hold a very high place in history for 21st Century Robotics," says Paul.
