Robinson started work for NASA in 1975 as a student intern at NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California. After graduation from the University of California at Davis, he joined NASA Ames in 1979 as a research scientist in the fields of fluid dynamics, aerodynamics, experimental instrumentation, and computational scientific visualization. While at Ames, Robinson earned masters and doctorate degrees in mechanical engineering at Stanford University, with research emphasis in turbulence physics, and additional research in human eye dynamics. In 1990, Robinson was selected as Chief of the Experimental Flow Physics Branch at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, where he led a group of 35 engineers and scientists engaged in aerodynamics and fluid physics research.