I do love a good robot and especially a robot which I can control! Tandy's Battle Iron Claw (also made by Radio Shack) is a great example, as its a powered tank with a huge remote operated claw. It takes its own weight in various batteries, to power a baleful red eye sensor, forward and reverse control and full 360 degree claw movement. Its ideal for sitting in a patio chair and sending it on retrieval missions up and down the garden as the receiver range is excellent!
Smaller and less intimidating is this Blue Box Arm robot, which feautures a standard robot body and interchangeable accessories, controlled by a tethered unit.
Blue Box obviously pinched the idea from the awesome Bandai Robot Arm Machine, a squat, solid looking beauty with a good range of attachements, including a shovel, claw and missile bay.
A bonus is the cover artwork on the box, which is in the same style as the Imai Macross kits.
Tethered control moves the robot back and forward and lifts and lowers the shovel with surprising accuracy.
Snaeak attacks can be launched with the missile bank, with four rockets fired in sequence via the remote.
The extra long reach claw arm lifts and lowers and although not massively powerful, can retrieve small objects.
For serious lifting jobs, you need a serious arm. Tomy produced the Mobile Armatron, a large arm attached to a rolling body can lift large loads, again with a tethered remote.
The original inspiration for the Arm toys is Tomy's Armatron. Looking as if it has been stolen from a japanese car plant, Armatron is a joystick controlled arm which comes with two test units to practice the operators dexterity at using the robot. Its a static toy, but coupled with the other toys, could be the basis for world domination!
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