This unusual robot was sent to me by Robert Mowery. He bought it at a flee market, and has no idea what this robot is. He thinks the maker's name may have been on the battery cover which is missing. Robert and I are in the same boat on this one because I haven't a clue either! Note the unusual hands! If any of you can identify him please let us know. You may contact Robert by sending him an e-mail.Thanks for sharing Robert!
Update:
I received an e-mail from William Norder that was written to Robert just one day after I placed this page on the web. Not much of a mystery anymore. Here is William's letter to Robert regarding this robot, Elami Jr.
8/10/00"Robert,
I was looking at Jeff's Robots and saw your mystery find. He is Elami Jr.. (pronounced El ah mee). He was made in Hong Kong, distibuted by North American Robotics under license from ROBOTLAND INC.. I can't find a date on him or any of the paperwork, but there are no bar codes on the box, so I would suspect pre 1981, probably later than 1970. Incidently, Hong Kong is the only I.D. on the battery door.
Quoting from the box:
"8 bit microcomputer, infrared & mechanical sensors to see, mechanical
arms & grippers, four facial expressions, 25 key talking keyboard, mobility in 2 speeds, up to 206 words of speech, 2 hours of continuous programming, individual security code."That's a lot of features. (Great "indeterminent gender" voice, too)
I've had two of these. The 1st one had an intermittent problem with keyboard input, which made it almost impossible to program. The one I have now works great. He is one of the highest quality plastic robots I've ever seen and would expect him to sell MIB in the range of $150-$250. I sold my "bad keyboard" piece "as is" for $49 in a rough box in early 1998.
Hope this info is useful."
Sure is William, we'll take any information you want to give us!
Additional letters:
Harry Campbell
