3 ms·

Anyone here remember a 1980's Logo-programmable robot that I once used in a TAG program? It had a pen, we would lay it on top of a giant sheet of paper. It was

Anyone here remember a 1980's Logo-programmable robot that I once used in a TAG program? It had a pen, we would lay it on top of a giant sheet of paper. It was like a little futuristic tank. I searched for a minute, and I cannot find the exact model. Did I imagine this?

criddell 22d ago
Did it look like this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Trak https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Trak Doesn't have a pen, but maybe it was a modified version of that toy?
- consumer451 22d ago
  YES! This was exactly it. Thank you. It seems my pen memory came from a different logo-driven bot. In-fact, the Big Trak was not even Logo-driven, but had a similar command system. I appear to have combined childhood recollections, but that was the shape I was "remembering." No wonder, just look at that thing! lol
jamessb 22d ago
It was probably one of the Turtle robots or a derivative of them: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtle_(robot) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtle_(robot) One later variant is the Valiant Roamer https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/30545/Valiant-Roamer/ https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/30545/Valiant-Roamer...
- richstokes 21d ago
  We had the Roamer, British school, very early 90's. I remember programming a logo/turtle type thing on the BBC Micro, and then I think there was a way to copy the program on to the Roamer directly from the BBC. Or maybe we did it manually. But it was amazing to me, and I always felt sad we didnt use it more!
dekhn 22d ago
Yes, I remember. See anything familiar on https://www.weeklyrobotics.com/articles/2023_01_25_the_history_of_turtle_robots/ https://www.weeklyrobotics.com/articles/2023_01_25_the_histo...
bitwize 21d ago
The on-screen "turtle" made famous by microcomputer Logos was originally just such a robot: a wheeled dome with a pen inside that you could program by giving commands written in Logo. Papert reasoned that you could get kids interested in programming by teaching them to use programs as a tool for something with which they are already familiar (drawing). The real turtles were expensive to procure in the 1960s and 1970s, so by the time the 80s came around and 8-bitters were becoming more affordable for homes and schools, the screen turtle was conceived as a substitute.

criddell 22d ago

Did it look like this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Trak https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Trak Doesn't have a pen, but maybe it was a modified version of that toy?

consumer451 22d ago
YES! This was exactly it. Thank you. It seems my pen memory came from a different logo-driven bot. In-fact, the Big Trak was not even Logo-driven, but had a similar command system. I appear to have combined childhood recollections, but that was the shape I was "remembering." No wonder, just look at that thing! lol

jamessb 22d ago

It was probably one of the Turtle robots or a derivative of them: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtle_(robot) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtle_(robot) One later variant is the Valiant Roamer https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/30545/Valiant-Roamer/ https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/30545/Valiant-Roamer...

richstokes 21d ago
We had the Roamer, British school, very early 90's. I remember programming a logo/turtle type thing on the BBC Micro, and then I think there was a way to copy the program on to the Roamer directly from the BBC. Or maybe we did it manually. But it was amazing to me, and I always felt sad we didnt use it more!

dekhn 22d ago

Yes, I remember. See anything familiar on https://www.weeklyrobotics.com/articles/2023_01_25_the_history_of_turtle_robots/ https://www.weeklyrobotics.com/articles/2023_01_25_the_histo...

bitwize 21d ago

The on-screen "turtle" made famous by microcomputer Logos was originally just such a robot: a wheeled dome with a pen inside that you could program by giving commands written in Logo. Papert reasoned that you could get kids interested in programming by teaching them to use programs as a tool for something with which they are already familiar (drawing). The real turtles were expensive to procure in the 1960s and 1970s, so by the time the 80s came around and 8-bitters were becoming more affordable for homes and schools, the screen turtle was conceived as a substitute.