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They seem to be down. In the meantime: https://web.archive.org/web/20230501123146/https://shop.heathkit.com/shop https://web.archive.org/web/20230501123146/htt

by rwl4 3y ago

They seem to be down. In the meantime: https://web.archive.org/web/20230501123146/https://shop.heathkit.com/shop https://web.archive.org/web/20230501123146/https://shop.heat... As a kid, I remember seeing their Hero 2000 on Mr Wizard. It ignited my imagination and I ordered a catalog. Then I saw the price. I went on to get a number of other robots, mostly from Tomy, but they paled in comparison to Hero 2000. When I got a little older, I even started reading about neural networks. Shame I never went further with that!

acidburnNSA 3y ago
I put a few pics and videos of my dad's old Hero Jr. up. I barely remember him piecing it together as one of my earliest memories. Still works fine. Had a little Y2K glitch but was no problem. Just thinks it's 1923 now. https://partofthething.com/thoughts/the-hero-jr-personal-robot-from-heathkit-a-1984-product-way-ahead-of-its-time/ https://partofthething.com/thoughts/the-hero-jr-personal-rob... A guy keeps contacting me to try to sell his if you want one.
- rwl4 3y ago
  Thanks for the offer. TBH, now that I'm older, I have come to realize that some super neat-o things don't really fit into my life and would be sadly neglected. I've contemplated creating a display case in my office of all the gadgets I've bought over the years that are in pristine condition.
- quercusa 3y ago
  The sonar sensor looks like the one from the Polaroid SX-70, another wonder of that age.
varjag 3y ago
As a kid in then-USSR I've seen Heathkit Hero in a translated book on robotics. It felt like a piece of tech from Alpha Centauri.
ncr100 3y ago
(humor?) Server is in an unheathy state
euroderf 3y ago
I was told that the first versions of Hero had grippers that could crush a pencil. (Or a finger.) And that they soon pushed out a "fix" that force-limited the grippers.
kingcharles 3y ago
Ah, I too had to settle for Tomy after drooling over the Hero range as a child.

by rwl4 3y ago

acidburnNSA 3y ago

I put a few pics and videos of my dad's old Hero Jr. up. I barely remember him piecing it together as one of my earliest memories. Still works fine. Had a little Y2K glitch but was no problem. Just thinks it's 1923 now. https://partofthething.com/thoughts/the-hero-jr-personal-robot-from-heathkit-a-1984-product-way-ahead-of-its-time/ https://partofthething.com/thoughts/the-hero-jr-personal-rob... A guy keeps contacting me to try to sell his if you want one.

rwl4 3y ago
Thanks for the offer. TBH, now that I'm older, I have come to realize that some super neat-o things don't really fit into my life and would be sadly neglected. I've contemplated creating a display case in my office of all the gadgets I've bought over the years that are in pristine condition.
quercusa 3y ago
The sonar sensor looks like the one from the Polaroid SX-70, another wonder of that age.

varjag 3y ago

As a kid in then-USSR I've seen Heathkit Hero in a translated book on robotics. It felt like a piece of tech from Alpha Centauri.

ncr100 3y ago

(humor?) Server is in an unheathy state

euroderf 3y ago

I was told that the first versions of Hero had grippers that could crush a pencil. (Or a finger.) And that they soon pushed out a "fix" that force-limited the grippers.

kingcharles 3y ago

Ah, I too had to settle for Tomy after drooling over the Hero range as a child.