L’imaginaire du robot s’incarne dans le milieu des jouets, des robots-jouets de la compagnie Marumiya/Metal House, dont l’un des designs s’inspire du film américain The Forbidden Planet (1956), aux différents compagnons robotisés populaires à la fin des années 1990 et au début des années 2000, comme les Furby et les différents animaux robotisés.
- Marumiya/Metal House (1943-aujourd’hui). «Metal House was founded as Marumiya in 1943; the company has produced some well-known tin toys. Especially familiar to collectors of battery-operated tin toy robots, the firm originally operated as a subcontractor producing toys for some of the most prolific Japanese toy companies such as Horikawa, Nomura, and Yonezawa during the post World War II heyday of tin toys. A long list of popular toys were manufactured by Marumiya during this period. One of the earliest big successes in the mid-to late 1950s was Nomura’s Zoomer Robot. A series of toys based upon the Robby the Robot character brought to life by MGM’s 1956 movie Forbidden Planet such as Piston Robot and Mechanized Robot were also quite successful and are highly sought after today. Other well-known Horikawa toy robots include Smoking Spaceman, Machine Robot, Fighting Robot, and Attacking Martian, all of which were ground-breaking entries into the field with lengthy production runs.» (Metal House Robots sur Wikipédia)
- Mr. Machine (1960). «Mr. Machine is a once-popular children’s mechanical toy originally manufactured by the Ideal Toy Company in 1960. […] Mr. Machine was designed by Marvin Glass, the toy designer, known for many popular 1960s and 1970s toys. […] The body had a giant windup key at the back. When the toy was wound up it would “walk”, swinging its arms and repeatedly ringing a bell mounted on its front. The toy stood about 18 inches tall (roughly 46 cm). […] The gimmick of Mr. Machine was that one could not only see all of his mechanical “innards” through his clear plastic body, but one could also take the toy apart and put it back together, over and over, like a Lego toy or a jigsaw puzzle.» (Mr. Machine sur Wikipédia)
- Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em (1964). «Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots is a two-player action toy and game designed by Marvin Glass and Associates and was first manufactured by the Marx toy company in 1964. It features two dueling robot boxers, Red Rocker and Blue Bomber, mechanically manipulated by the players, and the game is won when one player knocks the opposing robot’s head up and off the shoulders.» (Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots sur Wikipédia)
- Tobor (1978). «Tobor was a toy robot produced by Schaper Toys in 1978 to take advantage of the “science fiction craze”. The toy was approximately nine inches high and could be controlled by loud noises or by a control box. Tobor was among the first toys to feature an inexpensive remote-control, using Schaper’s “telesonic” system.» (Tobor (toy) sur Wikipédia)
- 2-XL (1978-1995). «2-XL (2-XL Robot, 2XL Robot, 2-XL Toy) is an educational toy robot that was marketed from 1978–1981 by the Mego Corporation, and from 1992–1995 by Tiger Electronics. 2-XL was the first “smart-toy” in that it exhibited rudimentary intelligence, memory, gameplay, and responsiveness. 2-XL was infused with a “personality” that kept kids focused and challenged as they interacted with the verbal robot. Learning was enhanced via the use of jokes and funny sayings as verbal reinforcements for performance. 2-XL was heralded as an important step in the development of toys, particularly educational ones. 2-XL won many awards, and Playthings, a toy industry magazine, placed 2-XL on its 75th anniversary cover as one of the industry’s top-ten toys of all time. The 2-XL name is a pun of the phrase “to excel”.» (2-XL sur Wikipédia)
- Transformers (1984). La ligne des populaires jouets robots Transformers a été mise en marché au même moment que la série animée (voir fiche Fiction sur le sujet).
- R.O.B. (1985). « R.O.B. (Robotic Operating Buddy) is a toy robot accessory for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). It was launched in July 1985 as the Family Computer Robot[a] in Japan, and October 1985 as R.O.B. in North America. Its short lifespan yielded only two games in the Robot Series: Gyromite and Stack-Up.» (R.O.B. sur Wikipédia)
- Omnibot (1985-2013). «The Omnibot is a toy robot originally manufactured by Tomy in the mid-1980s. The name then came to apply to the successful line of robots manufactured by the company. The initial Omnibot was announced with expectations of restoring popular interest in robots, at a time when it was becoming obvious that robots with advanced AI such as R2-D2 were still a long way away. […] Both the Omnibot and the more advanced Omnibot 2000 had a cassette tape player built into the chest area of the robot, which slid out like a drawer to reveal the cassette and could record and play back sequences of commands, as well as regular audio recordings. The built in digital clock with timers and alarms allowed the playback of movement recordings at specified times, such as moving into the bedroom in the morning. Both robots were able to broadcast speech from the remote control handset through a speaker on the robot, and both were shipped with a cardboard “home” base which was suggested to be taped to the floor and used as a reference point for programming.» (Omnibot sur Wikipédia)
Furby (1998). «Furby est un jouet robotique électronique sous forme d’une petite peluche animée interactive, qu’il s’agit de traiter avec grand soin en tant qu’animal de compagnie virtuel. […] Il est développé par la société américaine Tiger Electronics, de 1998 à 2001 et par la société Hasbro de 2005 à 2007 et de 2012 à maintenant. D’apparence, c’est une sorte de croisement entre un petit rongeur, un chat et un hibou qui fait également penser à un mogwai (gremlin avant la métamorphose). La révolution de ce jouet a été son évolution et son interaction. Plus son propriétaire s’en occupe, plus il parle français (pour les modèles francophones). Le Furby est muni de capteurs qui lui permettent d’entendre des sons, de sentir si on le touche et de voir la lumière. De plus, ils peuvent communiquer entre eux à l’aide d’un langage nommé le “Furbish”.» (Furby sur Wikipédia) - Aibo (1999). «Un AIBO (Artificial Intelligent Robot, homonyme […] du japonais “compagnon”, “partenaire”) est un chien robot de compagnie développé et commercialisé par Sony. Il voit le jour officiellement le 11 mai 1999. Les AIBOs peuvent se déplacer, voir leur environnement et reconnaître des commandes vocales. Ils sont considérés comme étant des robots autonomes et peuvent apprendre et mûrir sous la conduite de leur propriétaire, par des stimuli provenant de leur environnement ou grâce à d’autres robots. Par ailleurs, les AIBOs ont été conçus de façon à être caractériels et n’obéissent pas systématiquement aux ordres.» (AIBO sur Wikipédia)
- Poo-chi (Sega Toys et Tiger Toys, 2000) et Tekno (ToyQuest et Genesis Toys 2000). La même année, deux chiens robots sont disponibles sur le marché : d’abord Poo-chi, puis Tekno the Robot Puppy.