Clayton Bailey was born in Antigo, Wisconsin in 1939 and lives in Port Costa, California. Formerly a professor of art at Wisconsin State University, he is now professor emeritus of ceramics at California State University, Hayward. Bailey has received a National Endowment for the Arts Craftsmen’s Fellowship and an Honorary Fellowship Award from the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts.

In 1976 Bailey founded "The Wonders of the World Museum" in downtown Port Costa, where he lured tourists into the museum in a robot costume of his own design. Bailey has built over 100 life-sized robot sculptures out of found objects. He says, "I like to build beauties and monsters. I want to build robots that entertain and educate."