Yonezawa –  Cragstan Talking Robot

If you are ever looking for a cool robot from the sixties then this talking robot is definitely the one to go. Build by Yonezawa for Cragstan in Japan in the early 1960s. This robot is equipped with a simple friction drive and the only movement it does is going forward, that’s about it. but its not the movement what makes this robot famous, its his voice, the way he talks, its soooo cool.

For the not robot fans among us, let me explain something first. in 2017 you go to a shop and you can buy yourself a plastic robot that talks, even a postcard that talks, there is a build in chip with a cell battery and a tiny speaker and it is able to produce whole songs, tekst, and there are even postcards that you can “program yourself” with your own voice… and that for a couple of dollars, so what is so special about a robot that can say 4 lines…???

Well, in the early sixties microchips were not THAT common so the Japanese engineers had to find a different way to produce a talking robot….. they used a vinyl record and a tiny record player… cool or what 🙂 !!! it uses a small record with a needle, a motor and some gears and so and a big speaker, there is no electronica used in this system, it’s all mechanical.

Inside this beautiful robot is a miniature record player with a huge speaker and a record with 4 frases. These are the lines the robot speaks loud and clear:

1. ” I am bulit proof too, hahahahaha”
2. ” I am leaving now to explore the outer limits boys, goodbye, see you again”
3. ” I am the atomic powered robot, please leave my best wishes to everybody”
4. ” I am a mighty man with one million of horse power inside me, do you get me now”

This robot came from the first owner who had the robot as a kid and.. as with most of these talkers.. it was put aside because it was not talking anymore…
As i had repaired several of these in the past I also fixed this one.. quite an easy fix because the rubber band hardened out so it really needed replacement after all those years.

The robot is in excellent to near mint condition and.. works ( and talks ) like new again. hardly been played with.. fantastic AND !!!! scarce example because this one bears the name of the importer on its chest.. CRAGSTAN ! Only this text makes that there are in fact 2 variations of this robot.. the boxes are the same but.. there are talker with and without the cragstan logo.. this one is the proud owner of the logo 🙂

Robot comes with original box and also one original bottom insert. excellent original box that has some water stains as shown in the pictures. Overall a very nice box to go with this near mint talker .

Hard to find in full talking condition with original box.. hard to upgrade example

CFP: Contact me For Price at boogo.nl@gmail.com