American Computer & Robotics Museum

The American Computer & Robotics Museum in Bozeman tells the history of computing and information technology over about 4,000 years. George and Barbara Keremedjiev founded it as a non-profit in 1990, originally as the American Computer Museum. The collection began in the early 1980s, when George bought a Brunsviga mechanical calculator in a Florida antiques shop. He died in 2018 and the museum continues as a non-profit.

The oldest object is a Babylonian cuneiform tablet dated to about 1860–1837 BCE, shown alongside a replica of the Antikythera Mechanism. From the space race there is an Apollo Guidance Computer and a UNIVAC 418-II, described as the last surviving mainframe from the Apollo programme. Personal computing is represented by an Altair 8800 signed by Ed Roberts and an Apple I signed by Steve Wozniak, and there is a replica of George Stibitz's Model K binary adder. Exhibit themes include the Electric Age, the Birth of Computing, Cracking the Enigma Code, Hollywood Robots and quantum computing.

The museum won the Society for the History of Technology's Dibner Award in 1994. Since 1997, with Montana State University, it has presented the Stibitz-Wilson awards for pioneers of computing; Jack Kilby, co-inventor of the integrated circuit, was among the first recipients.

The museum is open Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00 to 16:00 and is closed on Mondays and holidays. Admission is $10 for adults, $7.50 for seniors 65 and over and military, $5 for ages 10 to 17 and students, and free for children 9 and under. Most visitors spend 60 to 90 minutes. It is at 2023 Stadium Drive, Suite 1-A, a block west of the Montana State University campus and a few minutes from the Museum of the Rockies, so the two fit easily into one day. It also makes a good fallback when the Museum of the Rockies is closed, though it shares the holiday closures. Our 2 days in Bozeman and Big Sky itinerary includes both.