_"He had found a Nutri-Matic machine which had provided him with a plastic cup filled with a liquid that was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea."_ -- Douglas Adams
Robots in the 80's: super cool Robots today: cloud-based neural network that's *A L W A Y S L I S T E N I N G* and scanning my conversations to find new ways to sell me pants
For now they only listen but... HAL: I know that you and Frank were planning to disconnect me, and I'm afraid that's something I cannot allow to happen. Dave Bowman: [feigning ignorance] Where the hell did you get that idea, HAL? HAL: Dave, although you took very thorough precautions in the pod against my hearing you, I could see your lips move. At least today "robots" don't tend to sing children songs when they gonna be shut down. Imagine Alexa singing...
Don't plug it into the Commodore 64! Surely we shall all perish at hand of the Commodore 64's cold and calculating 8-bit intellect if it is given physical form!
Over here in States, I had our equivalent, called the "ArmaTron." It was the same but on a wheeled base, with the locomotion and arm controlled by a wired remote. It was sold at the recently bankrupt RadioShack stores, formerly known as Tandy, like the computers they sold.
glad to know these have always been a thing... i got one of these types of things for use with python and a controller a few years ago but that was a build it yourself thing that kept me occupied for a night.
Steve Wozniak has often cited the ability of a robot to enter a house and make a cup of coffee - locate the pot, fill the tank, locate the filters, locate the coffee, add the appropriate amount, turn it on, wait for the brew cycle to complete, locate a mug and pour a cuppa - as the required evidence of AGI and robotic systems integration. Guess this one failed :(
"The reality has yet to meet the hype" Unless you meant that we might all have had advanced robots in our home by now, I dunno, those Boston Dynamics robots that can do assault courses, maintain their balance, run and jump walls seem to have fulfilled what we might have thought robots might be capable of in the 80's. Namely Atlas, stick a misanthropic, angry A.I in that!
In the 80s I worked in a computer retailer in Canada called Compucentre. There was one guy who used to come into our shop who was a huge Commodore 64 nerd and he mounted a Radioshack Armatron robot on a turntable and controlled it from his C64. It was awesomely cool but it couldn't do anything particularly useful. Still... computer controlled robot arm!!!
great vid and thanks for turning me onto mss kittens channel as well. she just got another viewer. Keep it up NN, you got a real gem of a channel going, love it. PS, your ebay shop link (youtube description) leads to a this shop is no longer open page.
Apparently the word robot comes from the czech "robotovat" meaning "to work". It was coined by Josef Čapek and was first used in his brother's Sci-Fi drama R.U.R.
Absolutely shocking brew 😂 And yes, motoman robots in Toyota/Futaba plants DO look similar, however, I wouldn’t recommend using one of those like this as they’re death machines. Keep up the great retro work fella! Possibly see you at the next replay/play
Whenever you need help with German translations in the future, be sure to hit us up. I bet we'd all get the job done for you in a couple of hours. Love your work.
I had one of these back in the 80s. I loved that thing. Also as a bonus It came with two Joysticks that were 100% compatible with the Atari 2600. Edit: Actually mine must have been older than that, because I don't think it had the light.
There's that clip I always remember of a robot trying to put one of those long life milk sachets you get in hotels into a cup of tea, it just ends up going up the wall.
I think I saw one of these at the California state fair when I was a kid. I also had my first run-in with a Karen that day. I waited in line for SOOO long to try out the cool robot arm and as soon as I touched the joysticks this woman started screaming at me to give her kid a turn. Decades later and I'm still bitter.
I'm sure someone could 3D print a replacement pincer for you, that's how my ROB got new hands. I'd personally be tempted to upgrade those gears to metal ones too which would improve the capabilities of this thing, really cool device though, thanks for sharing
love it i remember growing up in the 80's seeing all these robots on tv and in magazines and really wanting one. Of course the expense meant i never did but used to imagine the possibilities of what could do with one. Though kinda makes you think if those 80's robots had sold as well as computers and and the tech had moved in similar ways of price and performance that computers have what would we have today?
Great video as usual! I'd love to see a comparison with the Tomy/Radio Shack Armatron or Mobile Armatron; or even one of the newer pi/arduino compatible ones.
Honestly it's just because it tastes slightly different. Once you get used to it it just tastes like normal milk- if anything it's LESS disgusting. The milk really isn't the important part.
Considering we can't even process the soy used in the west properly for some stupid reason (There's been concerns over it's effects in causing sometimes severe hormone imbalance because of certain chemicals present in soy.) I can't imagine why anyone would want to have anything to do with it. Like eating raw chicken and wondering why you got sick!
I spent hours playing with my Tandy Armatron. Still have dreams of attaching it to a computer and taking over the world. I can vividly remember the clicking of the plastic gears when you pushed it too far.
Great vid. Had one of these arms back in the 80s.. Seem to mostly recall it being a total drag to code for in basic on the 64! But then again, what isn't when you are 9ish 😉. Great to see this in action again, anyway! Keep up the great work!
Excellent show. If you like this sort of 80’s robot kitsch, then you’ll love Tom Selleck’s “Runaway”. It came out in Dec 1984. Cops, computers, robots, Tom Selleck and Gene Simmons. Oh yeah! It’s so bad it’s great!
This was one of those unattainable items that all I could do was stare at as a 10 year old. I wanted it with every ounce of my soul. I remember my father finally said he would get it for me if I could name one useful thing that could be done with it. Stumped, but still the most awesome toy ever.
I wouldn't have put that down as 1980s if I hadn't known, I would've been very happy with one of these as a kid in the 90's. I'd be happy with one as a big kid now, although I may have to swap the original motors for steppers with the option to swap back.
I had something like this back then. The second model of the Radio Shack Armatron. Still kicking around somewhere. Did not have the 'elbow' movement this has though.
I remember arms like this in the shops in the 80s. Then about 5 years ago got myself the maplins robot arm to relive those days, then it sat on a shelf until a raspberry pi 3 bought it back to live. Who doesn't like robots!
Totally an 80's "toy quality" robot arm I would have circled if it were in my Toys R Us christmas catalog. I hurt my mouth smiling at you guys laughing at the tea scene :) Even if the sugar made a mess :)
Perhaps and this just a theory, she does dress based on what she feels will net her the biggest audience. And no matter how many times people poo poo about sexism her subscriber numbers reflect this.
Deadpool - huh? I'm not seeing an inordinate amount of skin from a quick perusal of her channel. Granted, she obviously has ample bosom and that's probably going to be obvious no matter what she wears, which will of course gain the odd subscriber due to that fact alone.
Had one of these as a kid, quickly (sic!) learnt the difference between cheap mabushi motors and real servos and stepper motors. Also, they were a lot cheaper in germany. I think i remember a price tag of 39.- DM. Think pound to DM ratio was roughly 1:2 at that time (early 90's).
Her reactions to the robot arm are the same ones I would have had as a child or now as an adult playing with this. Amazed & all out happiness! 🤖🕹🕹😀 Got to love the toy tech of the 80s.
Is this Marvin's left or right arm? Remember, the diodes down his left arm cause him pain. Might want those checked. Playing with a 1980's robot arm is very cool. Playing with a 1980's robot arm with Octav1us Kitten is priceless. Her smile could light the darkest gloom!
Not surprised it isn't very repeatable, they are using DC motors and there doesn't seem to be any feedback so it has no way of knowing if it were lagging behind. Could be fun to see if it could be upgrade to use stepper motors which would give a greater degree of accuracy (compared to the DC ones anyway lol)
This video reminded me of another 80s robot car that was programmable somehow. Maybe Pete or the other comments can name it, as I can just seem to remember an advert. Or maybe it was a bit in a film where it went to the fridge and got a can of Coke and brought it back to the sofa. It looked like a moon buggy with six wheels and I think had a keypad on it to give it commands off cards. Was that a thing or did I dream that up!?
Spectravideo were such a weird company. I remember having Quickshot joysticks and controllers, and a SV-328 computer that my grandfather gave me. All of their products felt a bit alien.
That robot arm could do with some serious modding and newer motors to get it going sweet in these modern times and make it sound less like a vibrator. I call for a modding and a collab with James Bruton.
Brilliant love it.We now know that it takes two retro loving human types and one screechy geared robotic arm to kill a mug of tea. Seem to recall that the BBC did in the archives have a video of an automated robotic contraption making a brew think it was a punch card machine computer controlling it .We only had a black n white tv so yes the footage was in ____ you guessed it good old Black & White
I'd like to see a modded version of this. From the sound of it, it seems to have screw driven actuators. Changing out the screws and housing to accept a different thread count or replacing the motors would be a n interesting way to spend a weekend.
_"He had found a Nutri-Matic machine which had provided him with a plastic cup filled with a liquid that was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea."_ -- Douglas Adams
Robots in the 80's: super cool
Robots today: cloud-based neural network that's *A L W A Y S L I S T E N I N G* and scanning my conversations to find new ways to sell me pants
Well, did you purchase said robot pants?
AI in the 80s will take over the world
AI today, will find the best way to organise a collection of cat photos
but at some point you might need some pants..maybe lmao
For now they only listen but...
HAL: I know that you and Frank were planning to disconnect me, and I'm afraid that's something I cannot allow to happen.
Dave Bowman: [feigning ignorance] Where the hell did you get that idea, HAL?
HAL: Dave, although you took very thorough precautions in the pod against my hearing you, I could see your lips move.
At least today "robots" don't tend to sing children songs when they gonna be shut down.
Imagine Alexa singing...
@@BreakingBrick You just reminded me of the new Bigmouth Billybass that I heard about a couple of days ago. It can hook up to an Amazon Alexa!
still makes better tea than these kickstarter robots
Cause it's not really a robot.
I am absolutely impressed by its condition, especially the battery contacts, very nice aesthetic 80s look, great video!
Love how vibrant the yellow was on the arm, and the fonting hadn't worn off either. Great find mate 👍
Don't plug it into the Commodore 64! Surely we shall all perish at hand of the Commodore 64's cold and calculating 8-bit intellect if it is given physical form!
"the 80's robot world is pretty dark and gritty so that will come in handy" i was ROLLING
Over here in States, I had our equivalent, called the "ArmaTron." It was the same but on a wheeled base, with the locomotion and arm controlled by a wired remote. It was sold at the recently bankrupt RadioShack stores, formerly known as Tandy, like the computers they sold.
glad to know these have always been a thing... i got one of these types of things for use with python and a controller a few years ago but that was a build it yourself thing that kept me occupied for a night.
Steve Wozniak has often cited the ability of a robot to enter a house and make a cup of coffee - locate the pot, fill the tank, locate the filters, locate the coffee, add the appropriate amount, turn it on, wait for the brew cycle to complete, locate a mug and pour a cuppa - as the required evidence of AGI and robotic systems integration. Guess this one failed :(
"The reality has yet to meet the hype"
Unless you meant that we might all have had advanced robots in our home by now, I dunno, those Boston Dynamics robots that can do assault courses, maintain their balance, run and jump walls seem to have fulfilled what we might have thought robots might be capable of in the 80's. Namely Atlas, stick a misanthropic, angry A.I in that!
only in carefully controlled environments.
+Man Beadle Don't give them ideas!!! I find their robots quite concerning even without an A.I.
In the 80s I worked in a computer retailer in Canada called Compucentre. There was one guy who used to come into our shop who was a huge Commodore 64 nerd and he mounted a Radioshack Armatron robot on a turntable and controlled it from his C64. It was awesomely cool but it couldn't do anything particularly useful. Still... computer controlled robot arm!!!
Programming & controlling a robot arm with a computer was science fiction back then, even 33 years later it still looks cool.
i remember wanting one of these arms sooo bad as a kid.
Always nice to see Octavious smile.
I've never seen such an aesthetic 80s package ^^
Of course this tea is horrible, it has sugar in it.
Using a robot to make tea? *BRITISH OVERLOAD DETECTED!*
great vid and thanks for turning me onto mss kittens channel as well. she just got another viewer. Keep it up NN, you got a real gem of a channel going, love it.
PS, your ebay shop link (youtube description) leads to a this shop is no longer open page.
In the 80s I dreamed of having a robot like this, I lusted after my mate's Bigtrak. Nowadays, they all seem so cack.
Apparently the word robot comes from the czech "robotovat" meaning "to work". It was coined by Josef Čapek and was first used in his brother's Sci-Fi drama R.U.R.
Reminds me of an arm from the powerloaders in aliens
Probably not an accident.
Ripley was lucky it was improved on !
Man, with one of those and my brother's Big Track I could have took over the world when I was 10.
That stare at the end, my day is complete!
Absolutely shocking brew 😂
And yes, motoman robots in Toyota/Futaba plants DO look similar, however, I wouldn’t recommend using one of those like this as they’re death machines.
Keep up the great retro work fella! Possibly see you at the next replay/play
but imagine how many litters of tea they can brew at once !
How many _letters_ of tea...?
One of my pots just had another litter. I'm drinking the runt now with two custard creams.
Whenever you need help with German translations in the future, be sure to hit us up. I bet we'd all get the job done for you in a couple of hours.
Love your work.
I have a mint one and box in my RobotHut collection. And lots of other robot arms from the same time period. Great video. Thank you for posting.
I had one of these back in the 80s. I loved that thing. Also as a bonus It came with two Joysticks that were 100% compatible with the Atari 2600.
Edit: Actually mine must have been older than that, because I don't think it had the light.
does it save the macros as G-Code?
I never knew watching somebody making a cup of tea, could be so engaging.
I used to have the Quickshot Parabolic Ear that is shown on the back of the box, loved using that at school!
Like watching the psychokinetic meal prepared by Legion in Red Dwarf.
And Skynet went online in 2004.. oh wait it didn´t..
you and octav1us should take on LGR and PushingUpRoses in a head to head "plays" episode. Would be great fun.
There's that clip I always remember of a robot trying to put one of those long life milk sachets you get in hotels into a cup of tea, it just ends up going up the wall.
I bought one of these with the two joysticks at a Goodwill. I had no idea it was compatible with Commodore. Nice
I think I saw one of these at the California state fair when I was a kid. I also had my first run-in with a Karen that day. I waited in line for SOOO long to try out the cool robot arm and as soon as I touched the joysticks this woman started screaming at me to give her kid a turn. Decades later and I'm still bitter.
This is one of those old things that I'd be stoked to own even today. I know my nephew would love it.
I'd love one, too.
I'm sure someone could 3D print a replacement pincer for you, that's how my ROB got new hands. I'd personally be tempted to upgrade those gears to metal ones too which would improve the capabilities of this thing, really cool device though, thanks for sharing
6:27
Shame no one makes speccy adaptors. That would’ve been the perfect British computer.
love it i remember growing up in the 80's seeing all these robots on tv and in magazines and really wanting one. Of course the expense meant i never did but used to imagine the possibilities of what could do with one. Though kinda makes you think if those 80's robots had sold as well as computers and and the tech had moved in similar ways of price and performance that computers have what would we have today?
Sure, get the person with no depth perseption to operate the robot arm in your tea-making endevour 😂
"perseption" is an interesting wurd.
Great video as usual! I'd love to see a comparison with the Tomy/Radio Shack Armatron or Mobile Armatron; or even one of the newer pi/arduino compatible ones.
Do you have the Usborne book on this sort of thing?
Of course it was gross... you've poured soy milk instead of cow milk into the cup of tea.
Poor tea.
Nothing beats real dairy!
The multi hormoned-another species milk is more gross than a vegetal one, logic where r u? lmao
Nothing ruins tea quite like any kind of milk or creamer. Tea should be straight.
Honestly it's just because it tastes slightly different. Once you get used to it it just tastes like normal milk- if anything it's LESS disgusting. The milk really isn't the important part.
Considering we can't even process the soy used in the west properly for some stupid reason (There's been concerns over it's effects in causing sometimes severe hormone imbalance because of certain chemicals present in soy.) I can't imagine why anyone would want to have anything to do with it. Like eating raw chicken and wondering why you got sick!
I spent hours playing with my Tandy Armatron. Still have dreams of attaching it to a computer and taking over the world. I can vividly remember the clicking of the plastic gears when you pushed it too far.
Great vid. Had one of these arms back in the 80s.. Seem to mostly recall it being a total drag to code for in basic on the 64! But then again, what isn't when you are 9ish 😉. Great to see this in action again, anyway! Keep up the great work!
My God the tension
Excellent show. If you like this sort of 80’s robot kitsch, then you’ll love Tom Selleck’s “Runaway”. It came out in Dec 1984. Cops, computers, robots, Tom Selleck and Gene Simmons. Oh yeah! It’s so bad it’s great!
Any chance that you have backed up the disks for this? I have been looking everywhere for the software.
This was one of those unattainable items that all I could do was stare at as a 10 year old. I wanted it with every ounce of my soul. I remember my father finally said he would get it for me if I could name one useful thing that could be done with it. Stumped, but still the most awesome toy ever.
This is so cool gadget even today. And it actually can teach you a thing or two about basics of industrial robot programming.
We had a professional robotic arm complete with a small conveyor belt in my high-schools shop/technology class.
Is there anyway you can swap the dc motors for stepper motors?
I wouldn't have put that down as 1980s if I hadn't known, I would've been very happy with one of these as a kid in the 90's. I'd be happy with one as a big kid now, although I may have to swap the original motors for steppers with the option to swap back.
That reminded me of the Armatron robot arm I had as a kid. It had two built in joysticks but no computer interfacer to make it more "useful".
And then came LEGO mindstorm
That thing is begging for an overhaul, new paint, better motors, new cogs.... let's get someone on this pronoto
Wow. That was very cool mate. Enjoyed the video lots. Huge thanks to you and Octav1us!
I had something like this back then. The second model of the Radio Shack Armatron. Still kicking around somewhere. Did not have the 'elbow' movement this has though.
I have a proper ABB robotic arm. I use it to test programs before they are used on the assembly line
I remember arms like this in the shops in the 80s. Then about 5 years ago got myself the maplins robot arm to relive those days, then it sat on a shelf until a raspberry pi 3 bought it back to live. Who doesn't like robots!
Totally an 80's "toy quality" robot arm I would have circled if it were in my Toys R Us christmas catalog. I hurt my mouth smiling at you guys laughing at the tea scene :) Even if the sugar made a mess :)
I had one of those radio shack tea tray robots right at the beginning of the video
Hopefully the pincers can be fixed so you can test them the next time Octav1us is in town!
This kicks so much ass damnit my xmen and spiderman and gargoyle toys could have been through so much torture damn! I need one!
I would love to see a tear down, so the more maker focus fans can look at building modern recreations
That's great, never seen this toy before. Do love robot type toys
Saw this arm as a prize on Bullseye this morning.
Are there modern versions? It'd be really neat to play with, made properly you could even set up a system where it actually automatically makes tea.
If you used Audinos.
I wonder if you could plug the joystick plugs into another computer?
I'm subscribed to her no matter what she does but I, personally, prefer her everyday look in this video :)
Perhaps and this is just a theory she doesn't dress based on what random men online prefer she looks like and dresses for herself...
Perhaps and this just a theory, she does dress based on what she feels will net her the biggest audience. And no matter how many times people poo poo about sexism her subscriber numbers reflect this.
Deadpool perhaps her subscriber numbers reflect her content?
Deadpool - huh? I'm not seeing an inordinate amount of skin from a quick perusal of her channel. Granted, she obviously has ample bosom and that's probably going to be obvious no matter what she wears, which will of course gain the odd subscriber due to that fact alone.
I have an alfred arm and a beasty,wouldn't mind getting one of these. They don't come up for sale that often.
"Less of thing now" is unfortunate. Who doesn't love robots?
The best part is that it can be operated by C64, and used the standard 9-pin joysticks.
thank you teacher for healping me complete my univerity
Had one of these as a kid, quickly (sic!) learnt the difference between cheap mabushi motors and real servos and stepper motors.
Also, they were a lot cheaper in germany. I think i remember a price tag of 39.- DM. Think pound to DM ratio was roughly 1:2 at that time (early 90's).
Memories of Tomorrow’s World....
Dude this video is awesome. Been a subscriber now for quite a while this may be my favorite of your videos. Please make more like this.
Her reactions to the robot arm are the same ones I would have had as a child or now as an adult playing with this. Amazed & all out happiness! 🤖🕹🕹😀 Got to love the toy tech of the 80s.
It’s not the robot we need but it’s the robot we deserve.
Is this Marvin's left or right arm? Remember, the diodes down his left arm cause him pain. Might want those checked.
Playing with a 1980's robot arm is very cool. Playing with a 1980's robot arm with Octav1us Kitten is priceless. Her smile could light the darkest gloom!
Old as it is, it's still way cooler than my Roomba vacuum.
Not surprised it isn't very repeatable, they are using DC motors and there doesn't seem to be any feedback so it has no way of knowing if it were lagging behind. Could be fun to see if it could be upgrade to use stepper motors which would give a greater degree of accuracy (compared to the DC ones anyway lol)
I for one am really happy that the videos are flowing once again, favourite old school UA-camr hands down, Cheers Mr Nerd.
You guy r so nerdy, that you have your own powerload from aliens, and I love it lol.
This video reminded me of another 80s robot car that was programmable somehow. Maybe Pete or the other comments can name it, as I can just seem to remember an advert. Or maybe it was a bit in a film where it went to the fridge and got a can of Coke and brought it back to the sofa. It looked like a moon buggy with six wheels and I think had a keypad on it to give it commands off cards. Was that a thing or did I dream that up!?
"KUKA, I'm your father!"
Spectravideo were such a weird company. I remember having Quickshot joysticks and controllers, and a SV-328 computer that my grandfather gave me. All of their products felt a bit alien.
Sounds like an electronic coffee grinder, of a Jura for example.
Anyone remember the Heathkit HERO? Growing up watching Mr. Wizard's World, it was a fond memory, and I always wanted one.
That's a cool looking arm. I've got an Armatron from Radio Shack and it's always fun to mess around with.
Thanks to Boston Dynamics, robots have gone from Utopian fantasy to apocalyptic near-reality without any nice, useful robot servants in between.
Horace is going to be jealous at that robot arm.
One word - AWESOME!!!! Thanks
That robot arm could do with some serious modding and newer motors to get it going sweet in these modern times and make it sound less like a vibrator.
I call for a modding and a collab with James Bruton.
Brilliant love it.We now know that it takes two retro loving human types and one screechy geared robotic arm to kill a mug of tea.
Seem to recall that the BBC did in the archives have a video of an automated robotic contraption making a brew think it was a punch card machine computer controlling it .We only had a black n white tv so yes the footage was in ____ you guessed it good old Black & White
You have a face of pure fear when moving the arm
I'd like to see a modded version of this. From the sound of it, it seems to have screw driven actuators. Changing out the screws and housing to accept a different thread count or replacing the motors would be a n interesting way to spend a weekend.