The Z-Man, or Brain, Toy

What was so distinctive about this toy? Early pre-silicon programability.

Original article here.

Even more pix and info at this blog.

Who We Are
Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over forty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. Contact Us

Posted By: Paul - Wed Nov 04, 2015
Category: Toys | AI, Robots and Other Automatons | Computers | 1950s

Comments

Sort'a like the programming language "Logo". Simple but effective.

Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 11/04/15 at 09:51 AM

This looks vaguely familiar. I'm thinking of a toy offered by Radio Shack in the mid 1970's. In any case, this is pretty innovative with the use of switches to set servos directing the path of the toy in advance.

Posted by KDP on 11/04/15 at 12:41 PM

I had a programmable tank in the late 70's / early 80's called a Big Trak
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Trak

I loved that thing.

Posted by Tom on 11/04/15 at 02:52 PM

Wow. Looks like a nice thing for a week or two, but... $11.95 is 1956? That's rather a steep price, isn't it?

Posted by Richard Bos on 11/07/15 at 07:37 AM

Commenting is not available in this channel entry.