Robin had been appointed as Seating Consultant for the Barbican Arts Centre in 1969, although the building (designed by Chamberlin, Powell and Bon) had such a long genesis that it did not reach fruition until 1981. Because of its vast scale, this was one of the biggest projects of his career. As well as designing auditorium seating for the theatre, concert hall and three cinemas, Robin also developed a modular seating system called Hadrian for the Barbican foyers and designed wooden café tables and chairs for the bar.

Public seating had been a special interest since the 1950s when Robin was commissioned to design a heavy-duty bench for British Rail. Over the years he developed considerable expertise in this area, relishing the challenge of developing designs that addressed a specific need, as in the case of his upholstered RD Seating for the NHS in 1984.