"Who are these people who have tiny, tiny milk jugs? I bet they're CEREAL killers" 🙂

this toy was a centerpiece to many of my villainous action figure bases. LOVED this as a kid.

Thank you so much for the memories! I still have both my original Armatron and the Armatron mobile. I hacked my Armatron as an engineering student in the early 1980s; complete computer control using a Timex-Sinclair TS1000 computer (because the IBM PC was unaffordable at that time). Programmed it to assemble cheese crackers for a college robotics club meeting. Ah, those were the nerd days!

A kid in the 80s with an Armatron and a BigTrak (with articulated trailer) has all they need to run a robotic manufacturing plant.

I would have loved this as a kid, also hi Trifs 💚

1:12 I want all the toys! Also, yay, Trifles ❤

I didn't own one myself, but I did play with one at a friend's house. Radio Shack was a fun store when it existed, it was the go-to place for all sorts of DIY electronics, they had all the little switches and pieces you'd need for things like building your own radio, and they sold the RF adapter my NES needed to plug into our tv. They started making their own science-themed toys along the way like this beauty. Circuit City wasn't really a sad loss, they were just a copy of Best Buy and sold things like tv's and speakers, but Radio Shack was a really unique store chain serving both the adults' public need for little mechanical gizmos that made everything else work, and the interested kids who would grow into the tech wizards of the future. It was sad when they finally shut down, it was the end of an era here.

This is basically a toy version of what we call a “pick and place” robot. That is pretty awesome ! Thank you for the video 🍻

I had one of these as a kid and I remember how much I enjoyed using it to pick up the little solid rubber ghosts that came with Ghostbusters figures.

“Battery the size of a car” Yeah, they’re really big, but look up lantern batteries. I used to have a torch that took one of those.

Turned Craig Charles radio off for this! That is the biggest compliment I can give you. Do more yassss King!

IRMA GERD! I had one of these as a kid and I LOVED IT! As a little guy with a Hot Wheels collection I loved loading my little cars into big toy trucks or plane. It lasted through 4 kids and I think my mom gave it away years ago and have no idea who has it now. As for the noise they are pretty loud although there shouldn't be knocking or binding when you're moving the arm but mine was quite noisey too and still worked for decades. Thanks kiddo this was a walk down memory lane. You never know when you're gonna make someone feel warm and fuzzy . PS : try doing art with it. We used to put a paint brush or pen in it and add some celo tape to keep it tight. Then draw away.

I can feel and hear every part of this toy just by looking at you play with it. We had two, one for each of my older brothers and these things would go for years without batteries and be spun around and thrown about and still work when they got power. Memories.

Consider me appropriately tingled. Thanks, Octavius!

I don't know what it is about 80s toys but they all seem impossible to reassemble. I remember disassembling (destroying) my Dad's bigtrack. I will feel the shame forever.

I've got to be honest... "Hench Gubbins" isn't a phrase I knew I needed in my life. We lives and learns, don't we?!

I had one, and DID take it apart. Yes it's meant to be that loud because that DC motor is constantly turning and engaging with the gear train. Even the joysticks aren't electronic inputs they just push plastic actuators back and forth. The motor just turns constantly, and whatever way you move the joysticks just engage the correct mechanisms to the geartrain.

Next, we get Octavius to manage a JCB digger hard hat and all !

I bet kids would still love this toy...

No joke. I worked at Radio Shack 2001-2004. One day someone came in, shortly after christmas, and brought one of those in to try to return it because 'it was obviously missing pieces'. We told them we could not return a toy from the 80's and they said "well, we dont want it..." and just left it there. My coworkers and I had a LOT of fun screwing around with it until the district manager came in one day, found it in the back room and threw it away!

I loved the rat mug. Also, I'm pretty sure it was The 8-Bit Guy who had one of these in bits for repairs, if you still need to see the insides.

Would of loved this as a kid. I really miss RadioShack. That was my favorite store when I was a kid and when I was a teenager. All the toys, electronic stuff, and electronic parts so much fun.

Radio Shack had the most awesome stuff in the 80s ❤

This was ubiquitous in the late 1980s into the 1990s in Radio Shack. Every store had one on display and it was in every catalog. This was a rebadged TOMY toy, and it doesn't have the charm of their other 1983-1984 robot that made it big during the video game crash. As a kid, it seemed a little cool but it was clear it couldn't do much, like every robot toy. I think if you had the patience you could have fun. Many of these devices would be better now because back then there was no computer control and remote control was expensive. Now it isn't.

I always wanted one of these. A friend had one, we got bored after a few minutes but I still wanted one 😂

This was one of my favorites as a child. I still remember the sound.

I saw a video years ago where a guy was restoring one of these. The rubber belts inside tend to perish after a while.

I used to play with the display model at the local Radio Shack. They had robots, rc cars, totally awesome 80s toy store!

Best Channel of All Time on KZfaq This is it. Give all the awards!

...i had the *MOBILE ARMITRON* from *RADIOSHACK* from the late 80s and it held a revered place in my toy collection.❤ you for doing this vid. Edit; *ZOIDS* in the commercial!

Oh wow... you just unlocked a core memory. I had that robot elephant thing at 1:15. I completely forget about that.

LOVED IT when your rat (Detective Trifles?!) came and quickly swiped the pasta when he/she saw the Armatron going for it!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣 massive LOLs! Thanks for coming back into our lives Octavious, you bring a big smile to my face.

I've got a vague memory of having one, but TBH, I'm not entirely sure if I did have one, or merely saw the ads and dreamed of it.

I played with one of these in a Radio Shack back in the 80s and was surprised at how loud it was. About ten years ago, I found one of these in the trash, along with pretty much all the little accessories. This was during "bulk trash pickup", where the city will haul away almost anything you put on the curb for free, and people clean out out their homes, throwing out all sorts of stuff. I brought it home along with a ton of other stuff, but never got around to trying it. Shortly afterward, I had a situation which necessitated an emergency cleaning, and to my eternal regret, I tossed it, and many other things I'd collected from the trash. I don't even know if it worked. :( I also seem to recall once reading an article discussing building some kind of interface to allow it to be controlled by a C64, so you could program the movements.

OMG I HAD ONE OF THESE!!!! Completely forgot about it!!! Thanks for bringing back the memories!

"As a kid I would have totally used it as a final boss for my other toys to defeat." Over 30 years later now you tell me? I wasted my opportunity.

I had one of these as a kid and totally loved it. I played with it a ton. Back then, tech was pretty limited, so it was super cool.

I bought one of these in 1982. I still have it. It still works. It's still fun.

its good to see you back, sarah. and CONGRATUFUCKINGLATIONS on your degree. :D

I really wanted one of these as as kid. I remember being in my local Radio Shack, completely entranced as I tried it out. We were too poor back then, though, so I never got it.

Yep, had one of those as a kid and it was as awesome at the time as can be expected. Flying a drone is child's play once you have mastered the Armatron.

I have no problem with you subjecting us to more of this type of thing. Nice Devo reference btw 😄

I had one of these things as a kid. It really was crazy advanced for a kids toy in the 80s. I get jealous sometimes of all the cool toys kids have these days, but I feel like this is one that can still compete with all the new stuff. Nothing will ever beat lawn darts though.

Gad, I was one of those kids who pulled all their toys apart, sadly old Armatron met the same fate.

I totally wanted one of these so bad as an 80’s kid! You’re right, Radio Shack had the coolest toys back in the day.

Props for the Devo reference, big fan. And suitable given the 80s theme.

I'd have loved being one of these on Christmas morning back then. Just moving stuff from one place to another & coming up with creative ways to put it to use.

I still have mine. Spent hours playing "move the nuclear bombs, from one place to another" I swear my dad bought it for me as he wanted one.

I didn't have one of these as a kid, although I remember seeing them in the Tandy catalogue. But in 1985 I got a Tomy Verbot, similar in that it was a single motor attached to a complex gearbox.

squeee, i had one in the 80's, lasted to the early 90's - it was so much fun to one who has a high imagination

Hilarious - The 80s totally were like "THIS IS THE FUTURE!" and it's just an arm lolol

Never had one, but I remember playing with one in a robotics class I took as a kid. Pretty interesting that it has so many degrees of freedom with only one motor. I am a 90's kid so I missed out on this era of RadioShack, but I still miss it. It was a great store for tinkerers in its day (before it devolved into a redundant mobile phone store).

Random trivia - the faces for the Thomas the Tank Engine models were made by Tim Staffell who was the singer who left the band "Smile" to be replaced by one Freddie Mercury who then went on to change the band name to "Queen".

Great video you absolute scientist ☺️

I never had this as a kid, but a few friends did, and I can tell you that YES it was ALWAYS that loud....

I wanted this more than life itself when I was around 8 or so. Not a chance in hell of getting it, but I loved to stare it at whenever we went to the mall.

This level of articulation will be the end of us all!

I bought an Armatron in 1984 when I was in my final year at University.... my flimsy rationalization of buying a child's toy was that I could try and connect it up to my computer (a Commodore PET). That particular project predictably never got started let alone completed, but I still have it somewhere in storage. I took it apart to see how it could be modified to be computer controlled, so I got a good understanding of how it worked, but decided it would probably be easier to build one from scratch that to interface into the complicated array of gears and clutches. My fellow students all ripped the piss out of me for buying it, but that didn't stop them spending hours playing with it in the communal kitchen/dining area of the student flats we were in. By the way, don't worry about over stressing it - it has little clutches designed to slip if you try to push an axis too far, something gets stuck, or you try to lift something too heavy. The load clicking noises aren't gears slipping, its the spring clutches just unloading the stress.

Omg. I had the mobile, and a friend had the standard. We definitely opened them up, cause that's the kind of kids we were. The standard arm mechanism is something to behold. The mobile had separate motors, though IIRC, the gripper open and close weren't two different functions, there's just one gripper "pacman" button, and I think it's on the same motor but reverse rotation from gripper spin.

I got that mobile Armatron for Xmas one year, and in war of the Autobots vs. Decepticons, Armatron crushed them both in 5 seconds flat.

and the day is immediately better! YAAAAY Octi vid!

If anybody is intersted on how this (and other Tomy-Toys) look and work on the inside, check out Randi Rain - she restores these things all the time. Fascinating stuff.

you allways make me smile. you are such a nice person. you even be some kind of idol for me! the inspiration i learned is: even if you arent perfect, you still can do youtube videos and stand in public. your content is the finest on youtube about retro gaming stuff. you are on one level with the biggest creators we have ever seen. thats my honest opinion!

I bought one back then, I wasn't a kid anymore but I had a magazine that had instructions on how to modify it to connect it to a computer. I never ended up doing it and I do not know what happened to the robot or the magazine but it's possible I still have the latter.

I remember seeing this thing as a kid and always wanting one, but they were never sold here in my country.

I got one of these when I was 13 years old. As with all of my toys, I disassembled and reassembled it until I knew how every part of it worked and fit together. Bored in class, I drew out the entire geartrain and mechanical assembly on my desk. That act of vandalism got me into the Pittsburgh Regional Engineering Program, and an eventual full- ride scholarship to Penn State for aerospace engineering. Sadly, I had a crazy mother who hid the acceptance letter from me, so I never found out about the offer until years after it had expired. :(

we sell like 3 different robot arms at my work and now that motors are cheaper you can have one for each part of the movement so theres no constant grinding noise but they still make a whole bunch of noise when in operation and theyre still incredibly slow moving

@Octaviusking I hope you'll be pleased to know that I purchased an Armatron from EBay last week. New in box, hadn't even had the stickers applied yet. I named it "Hench Gubbins" in your honor.

Deffo need more of this!

100 percent relieved I didn't have that as a child. An embarassing emergency room visit would have been inevitable.

My dad had one of these when I was growing up. I don't remember the extra bits so I don't know if those were lost by toddler-me or if he bought it second-hand. And yes, I tried taking it apart when I was a kid. That was a mistake.

It's a good day when Octavius King uploads. Happy to see you back with a bang 😮

I just like when you pick up the ball, it fades into the greenscreen.

Reading the comments here has made me realize that Octavia's subscribers are all elder millennials since about 70% of us had one, 20% wanted one and the last 10% are young folks who weren't around in the stone ages back before the internet, mobile phones and mobile phones with internet. 😂

I had this as a kid. It was one of my favorite things along with Big Trak, a programmable futuristic "tank".

I sure picked a good time to start binging your channel! found you from your snow white and the seven clever boys video today cuz i looked it up for some reason

If anyone wants to see the level of sheer madness inside this thing search out My Mate Vince, he brought a broken one from eBay and tore it down pretty much all the way. It genuinely is an amazing thing in the way its designed.

this channel is so comforting.

I remember my brother having this as a kid. Don’t really remember playing with it much, it was fun for like 5 minutes just pick stuff up and put it down, lost interest really quickly. Cool to see it again though, wonder what happened to it and most my childhood toys come to think of it. Mom probably just threw it out or gave it away

Honestly, even now, I feel like this would be bit of a conversation piece in a room.

I haven't seen these things before but I would have loved it when I was a kid.

Hey, I'm glad you're back.

A couple weeks ago I found a video of some lad who bought a broken one and fixed it as a video. The insides are kinda incredible.

I HAD one of these as a kid. I loved it so much.

You remind me of a mix of Ashens and LGR, where instead of reviewing Poundland rubbish and 80s computers, you're looking at vintage nick-nacks. All that complete with relaxing narration.

The fact it has that much dof with one motor is insane!

Detective Trifles is amazing. That fury critter knows how to do lunch !

i love these videos where you review old gadget type toys. I remember seeing things like this in the catalogs when I was a kids, and all we had wasa few inches of photo and a 2 line description to go on and I used to find it fascinating. So its so great to actualy see this tuff in use and see what it really did.

I was obsessed with getting one of these when I saw it at a Radio Shack in 86 or 1987... I was 8 or 9.. and Short Circuit was my favorite film at the time, and Innerspace also fectured a robotic arm like it.. So i saved up and got it... aaaaaand the novelty wore off after about 2 days. I mean, yes.. it was cool... but I quickly realized all it could really pick up was extremely light objects. Also, Nintendo became my next obsession and put all other distractions on hold.

I still want one of these. Off to eBay!

And, yeah, don't try and take it apart. I did that once when I was 15 in 1988 and it never worked properly again.

Yep I used to have this and played with it a bunch when I was a kid. I do not think I have it any more unfortunately.

Omg I gasped out loud when I saw the thumbnail! I had one of these as a kid and loooved it

I LOVED mine as a kid. I used it to play with my transformers and GI joes!!!

I had one as a kid. I recently found another and picked it up.

Skutters’ dad

I loved mine. Kids were all about toys back then

I like the way your blue balls become spacey when you pick them up.

I always wanted one of these. And still do.

I had this one. My mom went on an educational toy tear when she found me watching Nova on PBS and enjoying it. Since I liked science since I was a tiny tot, I was always more than happy. It was great, until she found out the legos I was supposed to use for construction were used to engineer a firing gun using hot wheels as bullets.