Bigtrak makes a comeback

Comments

• Cool! I hope they've kept the same sound effects Posted by Bluey, UK
• We were only talking about how much I missed mine 3 days ago!!!
  
  Awesome!
  
  Why smaller?? I was 7 and could haul it about no problem.
  
  Still.... Gonna buy one! (for myself obviously) Top job!
  
  Posted by Divided he ad, U.K.
• I'm disappointed that they didn't add sensors and conditional logic to the programming. It's pretty clear they're using the old dump-cart trigger to trigger new devices like the camera, but without upgrades to support sensors and logic, its limits seem even more pronounced than when it was first released. Even a single bump sensor would make a huge difference.
  
  One of the classic problems with the Big Trak was that the distance of each leg of its travel had to be pre-programmed ("two steps forward"), and it didn't have a built-in means to verify that the same distance was traveled on each run -- maybe the wheels slipped a little more this time than the first time you tried it, so it hit a wall instead of going into the next room and firing its laser on your unsuspecting sister.
  
  A simple bump sensor would solve this problem by letting you program it to make its way along a wall until it found an opening. You could program it to make its way through a maze, too, or if you're really clever, you could program it to use that fancy new camera to repeatedly take photos of several locations in your house over the course of the day. Without any kind of navigation sensors and logic, the best you can do is use it as a time-lapse camera. Posted by Jacob Rose, USA
• Oops, looks like I was wrong about having no built-in distance measure -- it had a means to check the distance the wheels turned: http://www.robotroom.com/BigTrak.html shows the encoder! This still didn't account for slip, of course. Posted by Jacob Rose, USA
• Yeah, I'd have to agree about the wheel slip problem. I never had a Bigtrak, but we never did get my friend's one to go out of his room, into the next one and laser someone. After an hour of trial and error programming, it'd always move off quite promisingly, then just bump straight into the wall, turn a bit, then sort of grind a bit more. I don't think I ever saw more than that through the tears :-(
  
  Given PIC technology is so cheap these days, one would hope they'd make it a bit more "2010". Still, it'll be nice to see it back again, even if it's just going to end up on the shelf because it doesn't really do what you hope. Then again, with the camera attachment, it's probably no bad thing it won't really go sneaking around the house taking pictures ;-) Posted by Coofer Cat, UK
• Awesome to see this come back!
  
  We had an attempt at bringing the original one up to date so you could control it with a phone which was fun:
  
  http://vimeo.com/5656684 (it running)
  
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhC9AbJ_bu8 (some details)
  
  Any other Big Trak hacks out there? Posted by simon, UK
• awesome - already pre-ordered mine
  http://www.find-me-a-gift.co.uk/retro-toys-big-trak-80s-toys-big-track.html
  Posted by pete, UK
• Can also pre-order here
  http://www.wowgiftsonline.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=26&products_id=267 Posted by Vickie, UK
• I had one in the eighties when I was about 11yrs old, it was the best toy ever, after a few years of tracking, I lost the battery cover which was essential to it working, A helpful toy store in Liverpool called Zodiac ordered me a replacement cover and It was restored. Sending it to wake the cat up or drop an apple on its tail from the hydraulic trailer. Then one fateful day I found a million scattered pieces of white plastic in the back garden and soon discovered that my brother 8 yrs my junior had used it repeatedly as a bowling ball against our brick shed! Roll on summer, now 32 my brother owes me a new 21st Century BIGTRAK! Posted by Phil Johnson, England
• www.zeonltd.co.uk/bigtrak Posted by John, United Kingdom
• the one in the article is not made by Zeon but my Dubreq (Stylophone fame)
  
  www.bigtrakisback.com
  
  Posted by Bigtrak Jr, England
• i cant wait even tho my dad wants first go
  I got a r/c rock crawler from these guys on pre-order and there service was awesome im gonna order mine from http://www.ladz.biz/product.aspx?productid=335 Posted by anton , uk
• thanks anton .
  ive just checked the three links on here and www.ladz..biz is cheapest by £4 and offer cheapest delivery charge too .
  I know where my moneys going ! Posted by sylvias mother , somerset england
• any one know of a US distributor? i really need one and don't want to pay shipping from the UK Posted by Jeremy, USA
• To this day i still have the 1st Big Trak from 1979. Also within the last few months i now have two more with trailers fully working order & boxed, ones white & the other is Gray all thanks to Ebay.
  Now 36 & just found out that this summer comes Big Trak JNR roll on & cant wait.
  Big Trak to me was & still is 1 of my old time Retro toys and all 3 of my kids have had a go & want 1 lol xx Posted by Billy Thomas, England