Robert the Robot
Owned by Humanoido 1954
Robert the Robot was the most popular robot in the 1950s. Black and white TV advertising and ads in the Sears and Speigel catalogs introduced it across the USA.
Robert had many functions and was motion controllable with a hand paddle connected to the robot by a steel cable. It was modeled after robots on science fiction movies. The original Robert from the 1950s and replicas made in the 2000s can be found at auctions today.The cable drive control box allowed him to move forward by turning a handle and to steer by squeezing a trigger. Robert was a 16-inch red and silver robot figure first manufactured in 1954 by Ideal Toy Corporation of New York. Robert was inspired by the sci-fi classic Tobor The Great. Robert beat the wind-up robot competition by offering several cool features.
* Control movement through a plastic grip connected to its back with a wire
* Turn the crank on the controller to move forwards or backwards
* Squeezing the trigger made it turn left or right
* Open the bot’s chest panel and take out the set of handy tools* Battery-controlled eyes that lit up
* Talk by turning a crank in
his back
* Speak one phrase
It became a very popular toy, thanks to good distribution and appearance in the Sears’ 1954 Wishbook followed by other catalogs and sources.
Today, collectors will pay anywhere from $200 and $1,200 for a classic Robert The Robot. If you want a cool robot to fulfil your childhood robot fantasy, then Robert The Robot is the mechanical marvel of choice.
Commercial
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRFFMcD6KP8
Talk
I am Robert Robot mechanical man, drive me and steer me wherever you can, I am Robert Robot
Links
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcTMZRfyobU
Robert was the first robot owned by Humanoido in 1954 at age 2. The robot toy, along with other toy robots such as Big Loo, Mr. Machine, and Robot Commando set the path for advanced careers in electronics, robotics and space technology. Robert the Robot was a gift at the gray house that led to my interests for creating a library of Astronomy and Robot books, which led to the first laboratory. Robert was durable and at age 2, I completely disassembled it to learn how his voice operated. He was my first commercial humanoid robot.
