American Computer & Robotics Museum

The American Computer & Robotics Museum in Bozeman, Montana is a surprisingly vast tribute to the Information Age. It features an eclectic, multi-century collection, spanning from ancient cuneiform to the latest in AI. Notable exhibits include an original Apple I computer signed by Steve Wozniak and artifacts from the Apollo missions. While the space is compact, it is thoughtfully curated, offering a rewarding experience for both tech enthusiasts and casual visitors. The knowledgeable staff often enhance the visit with insightful introductions and tours. Overall, it's a unique and highly-rated destination that packs significant history into a small footprint.

How does this not have 5 stars! What a gem. Either original artifacts, many signed by the inventor, or fantastic fascimilies. The entire arc explained well. Good texts and great curation in an intimate setting. Great staff, gift shop. Better than the Smithsonian; no I'm not joking.

Wonderful small museum filled with neat technological artifacts. Many interesting displays have signatures from the inventors. Brought back a lot of memories from 3 decades ago when all things computers exploded into our culture. Will only take an hour to digest, but you won't forget!

Great collection, friendly staff, and a fun personal vibe to whole museum. Plus a thoughtfully stocked gift shop. Really packs a lot into a small space, hope they get the opportunity to expand!

Interesting little museum with lots of information and availability to play PlayStation 😜 first edition books, the computer assisted the first moon landing and more.... Small but full of interesting things, loved it

Loved every bit of the museum. Didn't expect to see so many cool stuff in there, including artifacts/technology (!) from 80 BC!!! How cool is that! A must visit place in Bozeman, Montana

World Class museum. Seriously awesome. They have some incredible things on display. It's wild that this place is in Bozeman. Do not skip this museum.

Some really important historical pieces are on display. The highlights for me were the Apollo 11 guidance computer, a UNIVAC 418-II Mainframe used in the Apollo missions, a moon worn Apollo 15 Omega Speedmaster (on loan from the Smithsonian), Computer Space; the 1st ever coin op video game, an Apple 1 computer and a Minuteman 1 Missile Guidance Computer and bombsight. A friendly and informative employee gave us a brief but insightful tour to welcome us into the museum. The history of early computing is also covered in some nice displays. It was also fun to see the robots. If you LOVE the history of computing you cannot go wrong.

Am I a nerd? Yes. Do I drag my travel partner to odd museums? Also yes. This was one that I wasn't about to miss. It's in an office building, oddly perfect for a computer and robotics museum. It appears to be staffed by IT college students who are just as excited to talk tech as I am to listen to them talk tech. They geek out about the evolution of the tablet and how far computer memory and storage has come-and you can see some of the early iterations of computers here! It may not be the most interactive or hands-on museum, but it does help bring some of the textbook information to life, which is pretty cool. Even coming from a nerd.

What a fantastic museum with cracy cool technology exhibits. Our guide provided an overview of the technology from the "old times" to the considerably more current times. They have several rooms with different technologies that highlight those technologies over time. It is very cool to see the one-of-a-kind technology they have including a watch that went to the moon, the computer that helped Apollo launch. Highly recommend this museum no matter if you're a tech nerd or a tech user. Had a great time playing the original Apple Oregon Trail!

The people who work here were very knowledgeable. We found interesting information in each room. You should allow 1-2 hours.

This is a fun stop for any STEM lovers. It's a smaller museum located in a business park, but is chock full of interesting history of computing. My partner -- an IT guy by trade -- pored over every exhibit. I'm not as much of a techie, but I really liked learning about the evolution of communication, the walk down memory lane of Apple products, and the Enigma machine.

Can't think of a better place to spend the afternoon than inside a museum on a cold, wet and rainy Saturday, right. I will enjoy seeing the old PCs of our time and all of the amazing relics of video games and history of the Roman letters as well as the alphabet in binary, that reminds me of college courses. My favorite was the poster of the 30 things the smartphones replaced, amazing if you really think about it. That's great progress for our civilization. A small non-descript green shingled side building with sale concrete stone exterior. It's not big, but each room is packed wall to wall. $17 for entry for the two of us. We got a 5-7 minute intro in the first couple of rooms. The binary computing, enigma machine, DNA 101 and the 30 items the smartphone replaced are my favorite. Amazing that we started out with tablets around 3500 BC and here were are using tablets (iPads) yet again. Full circle. Fun little off beaten museum stop here in Bozeman.

Working in the tech and computer field I was intrigued by this museum so I decided to stop by after lunch. The admission prices are as followed: - $7.50 (adults) - $4.00 (youth ages 10-17, students, seniors) - free (kids 9 and under) After paying the admission fee I was given a quick verbal tour of the first couple exhibits by one of the employees and then I set off to walk around the rest of the museum on my own. One of my favorite parts was the history and advancement of microprocessor technology and the first models of computers created in the 1980s and 1990s. Even though a lot of what I saw was familiar to me I learned a lot about just exactly how computers and robotics were used in American history from message decrypters in WW2 to the moon landing to others. Some of the artifacts in the museums are originals and donated by those who created/invented them which is cool. It's not a huge museum and it took about an hour to walk through it all. There's also a small gift shop if you want to buy a souvenir.

We almost didn't make it to the museum. If you ask Siri to take you there, she actually takes you to a church parking lot about 2 miles away. We walked and walked in the rain trying to find the non-existent building. Type the address into Google maps and you will have no problem. It's next to the MSU stadium. Alpacas were the reason we even came here in the first place. My husband indulged my infatuation with alpacas by driving down several gravel roads through farm fields to an alpaca ranch only to find out it had permanently shut down. I think going to the Computer Museum was my payback. I knew he'd be all over this museum but, oh my gosh, I didn't know that I would like it too. In fact, this was one of the best museums I've ever been to! Ok, as an engineer, I sometimes get my geek on, but really, the artifacts they had on display and the way it was explained blew me away! To get started, you follow a docent through the first room as she explains the history of communication. I see you glazing over already. There is a 4000 year old cuneiform tablet - I've never seen anything that old before. They have original hand quilled text - I have no idea how anyone could ever write like that. Then there was one of the original apple boards signed by no other than the "Woz" - Steve Wozniak - the inventor of Apple. There is a large Nasa display - I'm in absolute awe that they were able to accomplish what they did with the computing capability that they had at the time. There is a section on the evolution of the computer - I did glaze over at that a bit but what I did find interesting was seeing what technology was available at various points of my life. You don't realize until you see it laid out how computers have evolved in so little time. So much amazed me but what completely blew me away was the World War II displays. It was an in depth look at how the German's encrypted their messages and how the Allies broke the code. I had no idea this even happened. It is a huge reason that the German's lost the war. Finally, there are displays on artificial intelligence and quantum computing but either I was on brain overload or it really was just over my head. These displays just didn't capture my attention like the rest of the museum. The museum is small - you can probably wiz through it in less than an hour giving everything a cursory look or you can spend three hours like we did reading everything and watching videos. I think if I were reading this review, I still wouldn't be convinced that the museum wouldn't bore me to tears - I don't think I did it enough justice. Just trust me, you won't regret this visit.

Wonderful place to visit and learn so much !! Highly recommended. Even is you are not into computers it's still fun and informative.

This museum has a nice collection of computers and artifacts that capture the full history of computing. Also when I stopped in there were not any screaming kids or throngs of people etc in the museum so it is a cool place to actually be able to browse and think. Highly recommended for a visit when at Montana State University or Bozeman.

This is a must see and hidden gem. A treasure of science, engineering, and technology. I especially liked the moon landing and quantum computing exhibits. It's great for novices and STEM professionals. My son loved it. Inspirational. I have to admit: I didn't expect this in Bozeman,Montana! Please don't take that comment the wrong way. But this museum stands out and adds to the cultural experience. Really impressive.

This was an awesome museum to check out for my family. They were geeking hard during the visit. There was so much to see in this small place. Definitely a great place to view computer and robotics history.

Not only is it free - it is a wealth of knowledge on the path we have taken in communication and the computer age. Not only does it cover written communication and the science age but it also explores coding and Military history. The robot display was most interesting - and the 4 minute video was very informative. You can't fault anything that is free, really - but this gem is full of wonderful information, clean and well organized also. Go for a visit and be amazed how far we have come in so short a period of time.

What a great find! We were in Bozeman visiting friends, skiing, eating and generally enjoying ourselves but decided to take the last day to ourselves to simply explore some new things in Bozeman with our 7 year old son. What great luck that we turned up the American Computer Museum. It doesn't look like much when you drive up, but inside there are quite a number of fantastic displays showcasing the evolution of computing and the role computing power has played in our economic and social development. My son simply couldn't believe that the very first computer took up an entire room (or that his mom used to sleep in one of those rooms on hot city nights when she was a young girl). He marveled at how cumbersome and primitive my very first video game was (magnavox odyssey) and of course, was in thrilled to be in the robotics room. I think we spent about an hour and a half there and really enjoyed ourselves. Definitely worth visiting!

Great museum to see while visiting Bozeman - especially if you're a tech nerd or interested in computers more than an average person. The museum itself isn't very big - just a few rooms. Someone wrote it was free - it wasn't ($15 for two people), but still worth every penny. The rooms are separated by themes - from early arithmetic gadgets and calculators, to first PCs, to encryption devices and AI. You can even see the "brain" of the Minuteman ICBM and the Apple 1 board donated by Steve Wozniak. There are also early cell phones (Motorolas) and encryption devices like Enigma! The museum did a great job explaining modern tech and there's a lot of reading to do while you're there. If you want to continue on the subject after visiting the museum, watch "Halt and catch fire" show on Netflix ;)

I was in the area and noticed while searching for things to see and do that the ACM got ridiculously good reviews. Intrigued, I headed to check it out. Totally worth the trip. An amazing collection of interesting and odd items. I wish I'd had more time to spend here, because although the place is fairly small, there is an insane amount of material to look at and read. Don't miss if you're in Bozeman. The museum covers the history of computing and data collection from stone tablets all the way up through artificial intelligence and neural networks. You owe it to yourself to visit this place if you have any interest in technology. Mind boggling how far humans have advanced in such a short time, relatively.

Absolutely stunning collection of modern, old, and ancient computers and other scientific and innovative artifacts (printing press, space exploration, enigma code, etc). This is a "must see" for anyone with even the remotest interest in computing, video games, etc. The guys working here will start you off with a ten minute historical tour and then you can spend time exploring on your own. The computer enthusiast could easily spend all day here. No offense to the great little town of Bozeman, but this museum deserves to be in a bigger city with more foot traffic.

This is a very informative computers museum. Vintage original stuff and the front desk guy who was working was very knowledgeable about everything. It was interesting and brought me back in time.

A highly informative museum filled to the rim with rare artifacts, that I have never seen anywhere else! The introduction room has an incredible display, including an Antikythera Mechanism reproduction and an original bible leaf. Luckily the admission fee is low for adults, so I can come back soon, there just was not enough time to see everything.

An awesome museum with great info and good info. Although it's not huge I think I read every placard. You should definitely stop in if you're have time to kill. It's an great place for a nerd like me.

The advertisement and information on their site showed the of school computers and educational stuff. When we arrived we got a small tour of the front room and were set off to explore on our own. They had ALLOT of none related computer items and there wasn't really and kind of connection to computers or robotics.

The very unassuming outside makes you think you're about to waste your time but upon entering you'll realize it's much bigger and more interesting than the exterior would have you believe. The exhibits are very cool with some original items dating back centuries. It's informative, interesting, and free. What more could you ask for??

Such a great little museum. The kids loved seeing some of the old computers that we used to play with when we were kids.. small section on some which I was my favorite. Lastly lots of cool technology art in the gift shop

Free museum. An extensive collection. Friendly and informative staff. Thought provoking questions on the future of tech. A must see if you use modern technology in any way. I donated $10. My criticism - a narrow view of how technology developed. In essence, this museum suffers from Eurocentrism and Western-centrism. First off, the Indians (India) created the number zero. It's not mentioned once in the museum. That's a HUGE contribution. No one realizes that we couldn't even have these phones and computers. They created the decimal system, negative numbers, arithmetic and algebra. There needs to be an even bigger picture of Brahmagupta (Indian creator of zero) than Steve Jobs (hell some people think he was just a good salesman and Steve Wozniak did all the work). And on that note, there needs to be a mention of the unspoken contributions of thousands of Indian and foreign workers in tech. I should know - I use to work for Amazon and Microsoft corporate. The British fellow at the front desk is cool. Went to a progressive college and had some uncomfortable conversations about race. But I can tell he was uncomfortable when I brought this up. Interesting fact I learned yesterday - the British National curriculum does not teach about the American Revolution or the War of 1812. It seems we all interpret history on how it best suits our interests. However, it's akin to the all-white cowboys of the West Hollywood has pushed on us (and if you didn't fight against that version you were complicit in its propagation). In truth, one in four cowboys were African-American. After the Civil War, many former slaves were hired as cowhands aka cowboys. Lewis and Clark wouldn't have succeeded without Native American Sacagawea and African-American slave, York (who Clark refused to free after their successful expedition). The banjo in country music comes from the West African instrument, the Akonting. Many African-Americans would argue that the entire country music genre was an appropriation from African-Americans. I do give credit for this museum mentioning the Chinese abacus, Sumerian numeral systems, how the Chinese created the printing press before Gutenberg but he never knew they did at the time. However, those are small footnotes compared to how white Europeans and Americans are displayed/honored. More needs to be done to give an unbiased view of technology's growth throughout humanity.

I had been anticipating my visit to the American Computer Museum for lit-ral (literal) years. It's been the number one rated thing to do in Bozeman in TripAdvisor and Do Not think this is false. What I witnessed, will stay with me until the day my wife dies. She loved it so much, I will have the memory of her seeing the first computer, burned into my head until, again, until the sweet release of death parts me from her embrace forever. Speaking of forever, did you know there are enough transistors in your iPhone to reach from Bozeman to New York? This is a fact I now know because of my visit to the American Computer Museum of Bozeman. Have fun kids!

While I appreciate what these Hoomans are trying to do here (hey, I donated 20 whole galactic credits), I have to say that my overall visit here (from HUNDREDS of light years away) left me disappointed and frustrated. To our species, a museum is a place that teaches you about things and gets you excited to further explore your world. Conveying incorrect information (or providing NO information at all) isn't helpful in this learning process and makes it difficult for people to relate to what's on display (and provides us superior aliens with little or no context to mock your primitive "teck-nol-idg-ee"!) Some examples might be helpful: 1. Poor Vetting - Some information displays had serious and basic accuracy issues, math errors, etc. Someone spent too many days skipping middle school math class and playing video games, methinks. 2. Poor Vetting - "CPU Clock Speed of 2 Mega Hertz". When have you ever seen Megahertz spelled as two words!? In fact, this spelling is specifically outlawed on page 456,346,432 (subsection blarg) of the Intergalactic Code Book For Unoffensive and Universal Techno-Babble" 3. Poor-Quality - Yes, I understand that the display is on the top of the sign instead of the left, but crossing out the word "left" with a sharpie and writing "top" seems a tad unprofessional, don't you think? 4. Poor Communication - You have a piece of magnetic core memory on display, you might want to CALL IT THAT so people know what it is... Not HINT at it 5. Poor Communication - "This is the only [one of these computers] believed to exist"... Really? Do you mean they only made ONE or is this the only one remaining? 6. Poor Organization/Communication/Vetting/etc - They had, what looked like, a wooden Apple I case attached to the wall, but with no sign or other information whatsoever. 7. Poor Communication - Lots of Apple stuff on display that have a very colorful history (A Lisa, An Apple ///, an original Macintosh) but nothing other than a coroner's tag identifying what it was. 8. Misc Poor Organization - One of the robot exhibits wasn't turned on and only after I was heading out the door did I hear someone say "oh, let me turn him the robot on for you" to someone else." The Dalek in me is now furious. Sadly, I felt like I would have been better off viewing some hoarder's collection of stuff inside a rotting barn or just doing a Google Image Search and getting the same lack of context as I did here... How sad.

Inch for inch, this museum is packed with more history than you might imagine; 30,000 years worth. Ancient and rare books, some of the earliest computers used by the Greeks, all the way up to modern day marvels. They have some of the most rare pieces of modern technology that have ever been preserved, like one of Steve Wozniak and Steve Job's first computers made in Job's bedroom and Bill Gate's first operating system he sold with a hand signed note to "call him" should they have any problems whatsoever.

It was, in a word, exquisite. One piece of advice: hold on to your trousers, kiddos! I learned more in one day at this museum than I had in the past 10 weeks combined. We learned about Kilobytes, Megabytes, and Gigabytes and were entertained as we ventured through the complex world of computing. I learned about the revolutionary technology that the kids refer to as "cellular telephones." It was an amazing day, and I invite you to see the many interesting tidbits that this museum offers.

This museum brought back so many memories. But the amazing thing is all of the original historic data artifacts from BC. This museum is free of charge and accepts donations. We spent two hours. The staff are extremely knowledgeable. The museum is well organized. A must see.

If you like computers, space, and/or brains then you should check out this nifty little museum! Lots of interesting and unique stuff packed into a small space!

Check the place out, several original pieces, lots of neat info. If you're a geek you might be familiar with the info already. The displays and actual size models of things make it cool. It's free!! Totally donate to help. Hehe get an original punch card from 1960 while they still have some of you care for it. It's only 50 cents!

Very interesting collection and presentation. The docent was knowledgeable, friendly and helpful. It was a fun trip down memory lane of the technology of our youth and seeing how quickly and far advances have brought us.

For an unassuming office building in a Montana college town, this is a surprisingly cool museum. They have exhibits on the evolution of computation, personal computers, technology and the space program, code-breaking in WWII; very cool. Some impressive items on display as well; an early Apple motherboard signed and donated by Woz, a bunch of other early computers, etc. Well worth a stop by and the free entrance (but c'mon, kick in a couple bucks).

Heck yes! Our group contained both nerds working in tech and a few from the opposite end of the geek spectrum but we all walked away impressed. The museum is very well arranged and the signage and information is engrossing and illuminating. It covers computing but also space and robotics topics, as well as a great section on the engima machines of WW2. Even with a fixed entry fee this would be a don't miss attraction, but with donation at your discretion is a no brainer.

one of the best museums i've ever been to. the collection of artifacts is UNREAL for the museum's small size. the two employees were some of the nicest people i've met in montana and they were soooo passionate about their collection. i 100% recommended it.

Amazing! This place is completely awesome! They have so many cool items and their tour guides are just great. You need to come here if you are in Bozeman. They have items from tons of influential people involved in the evolution of computing and more!

This museum is located in a professional business park. It is free and donations are accepted. You are greeted upon arrival and shown into the first room. A brief orientation is given and then you are on your own to travel room to room to the various exhibits. Each room is small but organized. There are many things to see and learn about and all are computer related. It took all of us about 45 minutes to see the whole museum. Everybody was happy.

I Loved their extensive collection of Apple products. We met the owner and he gave us a guided tour of the museum and was very helpful. Best Museum Ever!!!!!!!

My fiance is a giant nerd. He loves his computers and knows more about computer history than most. When I told him I saw this place on yelp he was very excited and his interest was aroused. We came here recently and had a blast! The old apples are very cool (and still are!). If you dig old tech head on over, I guarantee you'll enjoy it.

Wow! What a great little museum that displays and describes computer technology from every aspect. I highly recommend you go see it. Admission is free but they accept well deserved donations.

Very interesting and informative! Great place to nerd out if you have an hour or so. They have an impressive inventory of computers, artifacts, etc. They have one of the only Apple 1 computers in the world and a ton of generously donated items that make it worthwhile. Even the computer programmer we were with was impressed. The museum itself is organized logically with different rooms on different advancements over time so even someone that isn't familiar can really follow along and enjoy it. They allow pictures so it's a cool opportunity to take pictures of everything that makes our smart phones possible!

What a hidden gem! We just moved to Bozeman and have gone twice already. I couldn't believe how well the exhibits were set up and was delighted by the knowledgeable curator. Definitely worth the visit if you have any interest in tech at all!

Impressive variety of material ranging across the entire spectrum of computing history. From a model of the Antikythera device to an original Apple motherboard, there seems to be something representing every important achievement in computing. Very friendly and helpful folks running the place, highly recommended to make time for a visit.

This was pretty cool. Took my kids here while passing through Montana. Learned many things about the history of computers and robotics I had not known. Also learned about the enigma Maxine and how Turing broke the code. Highly recommend visiting.