ROBOT COMMANDO - IDEAL - USA

Large plastic battery operated robot with multiple actions. A hand control unit allows the robot to move forward and to steer. The arms rotate and fire plastic balls. The head opens to reveal a rocket that can be fired. The voice action is simply a contact strip inside the hand control unit: when you shout into the handset it makes a tenuous contact that allows the robot to perform the selected action. Produced by Marvin Glass and the subject of a major tv advertising campaign. First sighted in the Montgomery Ward catalog for 1961 and popular for several years. Two minor box versions are known, one saying "mike action" the other "voice action".