The first R22 prototype was built in a hangar at the Torrance Airport, and Robinson personally flew it on its first flight in August 1975.

Announced in 2007, R66 has five seats, a separate cargo compartment and is powered by a Rolls-Royce RR300 turboshaft engine.

With R66 production underway and FAA certification imminent, Robinson decided to make his retirement official.

His son, Kurt Robinson, was elected by the board of directors to assume the positions of president and chairman on August 10, 2010.

[6][7] Robinson was a recipient of the 2004 Howard Hughes Memorial Award from the Aero Club of Southern California (given to "exceptional leaders who have advanced the fields of aviation or aerospace technology",[8] the 2010 Lifetime Aviation Engineering Award from the Kiddie Hawk Air Academy Living Legends of Aviation, and the 2013 Daniel Guggenheim Medal from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, for his "conception, design and manufacture of a family of affordable, reliable and versatile helicopters.