motors on flying leads to achieve five DOF and
control. Not as mechanically clever, and it’s
tricky to assemble, but a good lower-cost design
trade-off.
NIFTY PNEUMATICS
Tomy continued to make many other unusual and
cleverly engineered toys through the decades:
water-filled mini skill games, all-mechanical
hand-held “electronic” pong games, and wind-up
toys and games. Memorably, they pioneered air-
powered Air Jammer cars and cycles with pump-
up pressure tanks and piston motors (Figure
O
)
— satisfyingly noisy, safe, and fun!
Air power also activated Tomy’s Space Pets, a
line of mechanical creatures with names as wild
as their action. High Hopping Hoomdorm had
a six-legged insect-like hopping action, while
Stretch Legged Stoomdorm inch-wormed its way
along using an extending, scissors-like chassis
(Figure
P
). Kooky and clever!
Imagine what Tomy could have done combining
their air-powered toy tech with the latest
robotic arm designs, like tentacles (youtu.be/
SayuM8E_WaQ) and “jamming” soft-touch
grippers (makezine.com/projects/universal-
robot-gripper)!
Tomy merged with Takara in 2006. Now much
of their toy business is oriented toward licensed
toys from TV and movies, but Tomy’s earlier
mechanical marvels live on in the minds of toy
inventors and curious engineers.
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