The Old Robots

A parenting tip for those with geeky kids: You can get some of these (like the smaller TOMY robots) for pretty cheap on eBay. They're usually broken, but the innards of these robots are so interesting, just taking them apart is a learning experience. TOMY was brilliant at making seemingly sophisticated toys that were actually run by a single DC motor; all the movements, sounds, sensing etc. were implemented using gears and cam shafts and other mechanisms. A great way…

I love that someone made this! It's not mobile-friendly but I was content to pan and zoom on my phone just to read about some robots. Fun to look at. I remember building a "robot" of the 3-wheeled kit variety at the Pacific Science Center in the 1990s. My kids just built some toothbrush robots at the local library. They certainly occupy a huge and yet curiously ignored part of human consciousness.

I've spent a couple of hours pouring over this site earlier. This is the pre-monitization-style web site I like. Back when you could spend hours on a particular site.. without paying a recurring a recurring subscription. Another content-rich site sort of reminiscient of this one is https://americanradiohistory.com/.