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A 1980s toy robot arm inspired modern robotics

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125 points danso | 2 comments | 17 Apr 25 15:42 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source
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brk ◴[20 Apr 25 17:51 UTC] No.43745277[source]▶
I remember saving birthday money and buying this at Radio Shack as a kid. It was pretty advanced for the time. Then I had the idea to try and make it remote controlled, or just fiddle with the internal electronics a bit. Joke was on me, there were no electronics, this thing was 100% mechanical. A single DC motor, and a fuck ton of gears that were engaged/disengaged by manipulating the two joysticks.

This toy probably equally inspired kids to go into robotics, or to design automotive transmissions.

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1. itomato ◴[21 Apr 25 18:08 UTC] No.43754733[source]▶
This was the big lesson for me also. I finally got clearance to take it apart some years later to understand why it was so loud, so weak, so slow and what opportunities there were to connect it to the TI-99/4a.

It was a disappointing setup and I don't think I put it back together.

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2. mbrumlow ◴[22 Apr 25 02:46 UTC] No.43758646[source]▶
I did the same thing. My mom was pissed I took it apart.

I was disappointed with how it worked as well. The motor was reused in a different project later, there was no hope in me putting this one back together.