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● Links
Dubious Engineering | https://www.youtube.com/user/howitee
Github Arduino Code | https://github.com/HowardLJTaylor/VintageBigTrackArduino
● Description
Howard from Dubious Engineering has visited the cave today to show & tell his modified Big Trak, an ongoing project which has proven its worth on the battlefield.
● Music
Son Of Helios – RMC Theme
http://sonofhelios.com/
, https://i.ytimg.com/vi/D-guBA1_T_Y/hqdefault.jpg
source
Thanks as always for watching. Did I say Computers For Schools project? What I meant was the Computer Literacy Project (aprox 3:10) – Anyway I hope you enjoyed revisiting Big Trak and seeing Howards take on hacking it, as well as the Show & Tell format which I hope will compliment my regular content as and when guests visit. Neil – RMC
Oh dear, I do recall these
One of my childhood friends had one in the early 80s, I didn't realise it was that old. Was a very sophisticated toy for the time period.
Oh it always starts with AI inside toys…
I really like the new RMC theme. Retro and cool.
I was looking through 80s adverts I do that when I’m bored and saw this and was fascinated I would’ve loved this if I were a kid in the 80s
Oh Man… i have a BigTrack but it is in perfect condition so not willing to cut it up. May try to find a dead one on ebay. Using a Uno, H-bridge, bluetooth controller, the original batteries, a usb battery bank and the sonic sensors should be very easy to make a bluetooth enabled BT… It is basically a two-wheeled car… the generic program to control it with the phone is on play store…
Thank you – I have so many memories of playing programming this toy when I was 6-7 years old…
Definitely remember the BBC computers the secondy school rm nimbus computers
I never had any good toys when I was a kid I was always going to my rich friends house who had a loft conversion with lots of toy sega master system mask toys Scalextricetc the best me and my sister got was a second hand comadore Vic 20 with a tape deck I miss the 80s 90s.
It was LOGO. I remember it well.
Loved Neil's knowing nod to the camera when howard says bluetooth and wifi capability.
Yes audience… its just got real.
Rather disappointing. Why bring on a project if you can't demo it. It's like, "Here's a flying car, but it's not working right now, so sorry."
Always wanted one of those.
My school had some BBC Micros and a turtle but we hardly ever used either as none of the teachers knew how to use them. I do remember using the turtle once in 1989 or 1990, when I was a tiny little Year 1 pupil (that's 5 or 6 years old.) I think they let me have a go as they knew I liked adapting ZX Spectrum programmes from Crash magazine. Funny though, my memory of it is that of an actual turtle-looking device, not the transparent plastic thing it actually was. I guess the fact it was called a turtle stuck with me somehow.
Hope you dont mind me asking but how old are you Neil ?
I had a Bigtrak, I remember the instuctions, the programming was to move forward or backward by the length of the Bigtrak tank itself, so you press the forward button, then press 3 then, then press Go, and Bigtrak moves 3 times its length forward. You are correct about the turning being in degrees.
Mine was a corvette B)
I just rebuilt one of these….. built one out of two. Mine is nearly mint, even the decals and it's an early 1979 model in Grey.
I would recommend the HC12 units for radio comms over fairly long distances as well as the ESP8266 to get wifi, extra memory out of the box, both very very cheap.
Logo is the programming language, Turtle was the sprite used in the GUI, which was named after the Logo turtle robot..
Fantastic! My brother and I both had one. Christmas of 1979, maybe? Spent several days just programming them to run different paths all around the house. I imagine it is difficult for kids today to appreciate how big of a deal something like this was in 1980. It must seem archaic to them.
I had one these when I was a kid 🙂
I still have mine. I put fresh batteries in it and it still works!
My parents would never buy me one when I was a child. Gutted
the worlds move on and i think big trak isnt it 🙂
In Soviet Russia copy of that toy called "Электроника ИМ-11" was way more advanced, it looked similar but they added some cool features like flying rotor that was shooting out from the top part of a toy. When programmed to shoot a rotor a lid opens up and it shoots a flying rotor up to 2 meters my cat loved to chase it, it also had interactive lights – rear and front, better precision of turns and distance, and improved design overall, stop button integrated into a a front bumper – that turns off the toy when it hits an obstacle. I had USSR version back in 1989 I remember how my parents gave it to me for my Birthday and it felt like I got a toy from a future! Remember the futuristic box and amazing toy inside of it! Still have it and it runs like new! I had to repaint it though as original white became yellowish.
In 1985, I had a toy car which had the same electronic hardware as the BigTrak – even the keyboard (which was under the hood) was identical. I remember taking it to a carpark to try out, only to have its arse kicked by some kids with RC cars. 🙁