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No batteries required. Wind-up or
clockwork robots date
back several centuries, and are the earliest automata (Latin for
"self-acting"). In the '50s and
'60s, wind-up robots survived alongside battery operated toys, and
after the battery era. Now they have revived in the new millenium.
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Above: Toysmith
Never-fall wind-up
robots from 2010 were available in six colors and two styles. Left:
Dark pink round robot with Secret Saturdays Cryptopedia. Middle: Dark
pink, light blue, light pink, and green robots wait at Robotix space
train station. Right: They're equally at home at Dexter's Lab
Colorforms set.
Below: A never-fall Toysmith "Freaked Out Alien" saucer invades the
station. Middle: Two saucers collide with the space train. Robots ride
the lower level Geomag space track, as two Tomy wind-ups pass on the
upper level.
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Below left: These tiny robots led
the pack of Tomy's famous white knob wind-ups, which came in a few
variations. usually they were found in displays of Tomy animal
wind-ups, and have been perennially popular for decades. Middle: Later
they were individually carded as "Rascal Robots". Right: Two robots
discover a mysterious Geomag pyramid, the glow of which highlights
their metallic, electroplated plastic bodies and translucent domes.
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Above left:
Masudaya's metal wind-up space car has a captive key, and depicts
"Smoking Spaceman" robot on the roof. Masudaya's plastic wind-up Robby
comes to the rescue of the crashed space car. Above right: an
interstellar light show bathes Masudaya's Robby and B-9 wind-ups. Each
feature color matched winding knobs: black for Robby, and silver for
B-9.
Below left: wind-ups then and now. A recent tin repro of one of the
first tin robots, Robot Liliput, in a green variant poses with Futurama star, Bender, from Rocket
USA. Both have large, removeable keys. Below right: an invasion force
of green and red tin and plastic ZV200 robots, from Playgo, distributed
by Russ. They're wound by a small built-in lever on the side, and have
a pre-worn, "distressed" look.
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