Armatron Repair

"Armatron works just like real robots. You can manipulate it to execute "hazardous" scientific experiments in your "laboratory" or add cream and sugar to your coffee."

Radio Shack 1984

Armatron, a vintage toy robot arm manufactured by the TOMY toy company and distributed by Radio Shack in the United States starting in 1984, had an industrial-style robotic factory arm design. It possessed six degrees of freedom, allowing it to rotate, lift, bend at the elbow, twist at the wrist, and open or close its two-fingered gripper. These movements were manually controlled by two twistable joysticks, and the arm was powered by a single DC motor with gear trains, rather than automated electronics.

The Armatron also featured an “energy level” indicator, which was actually a countdown timer. Users could set the initial energy level from 1 to 10 “energy” units, and the arm would automatically shut off when the set time expired. The Armatron was sold with a module pack containing plastic items that could be lifted and moved by the arm. The module pack included two stepped cones, two spheres, two cylinders, a flat base module, and a hinged lid box module. The user’s challenge was to use the arm to move the spheres and cones from the top of the box to their designated positions on the flat module. Afterward, the user had to open the lid of the box and remove the cylinders, placing them in their respective positions on the flat module. All these tasks had to be completed within the time limit set by the energy level indicator.

• Price: $31.95 USD in 1984 (Equivelant to $101.60 USD as of December 2025)
• Inventor: Hiroyuki Watanabe
• Manufacturer: TOMY Toys
• Distributor: Radio Shack

• Height w/ Arm Fully extended): 14"
• Length: 6.5"
• Width: 8.25"
• Cary Capacity: 30g

• Writst Rotation: 360°
• Wrist Flexing: 180°
• Elbow: 180°
• Shoulder Rotation: 360°
• Shoulder Elevation: 60°
• Two-Fingered End Effector: 90°

• Power Source: 2 x D-Cell Batteries
• Power Requirements: DC 3V
• Minimum Operating Voltage: 2V
• Run-Time: 1.5 Hours

• "How a 1980s toy robot arm inspired modern robotics" MIT Technology Review (Archived April 18, 2025)
• The Old Robots Armatron Page
• Armatron Wikipedia Page