Politician, journalist, and poet. Roberto Robert a was an elected congressman and member of the government. He was a Republican, delegate for the Federal Democratic-Republican Party in 1872.
In Madrid, he participated in the Revolution of 1854. He was jailed in 1855 in El Saladero for having published an article against Queen Isabel II in El Tío Crispín. He was also jailed later on for being part of secret societies (he was a member of the Italian Carbonari movement). He got a pulmonary infection while in jail.
In Barcelona, Robert published in several newspapers and participated in the Revolution of 1868.
His writings are a point of departure for social criticism. In El Saladero de Madrid: su historia, sus costumbres, su estadística, su organización (1863), he offers a sociological analysis of the prison and includes literary fragments. For example, he makes use of literature to present to the readers a case of gender violence. His book is part of a larger project, Prisiones de Europa (1862-1863), compiled by Innocenci López Bernagossi in Librería Española. Roberto Robert was interested in penitentiary reform. In El Saladero de Madrid, he denounces moderantism and defends Republican democratic ideology.
Robert was one of the founding fathers of the Asociación de Escritores y Artistas.