Radio Shack Robie Robots: Sr, Junior, and the Parts We Make
Robie is Radio Shack's family of 1980s home robots, and the two you'll run into most are the Robie Sr and the Robie Junior. If you're restoring one, or just trying to work out what you have, this page explains the Robie line and points you to the exact parts we make for each.
What the Robie robots are
Radio Shack sold the Robie robots in the mid-1980s. They weren't built from scratch. Each Robie is a rebadged version of a TOMY Omnibot robot, which is why Omnibot parts fit the matching Robie.
The Robie Sr is the full-size unit, built on the same platform as the TOMY Omnibot 5402 and the Hearoid. It's the desktop butler with the programmable cassette deck, the moving arms, and the serving tray.
The Robie Junior (1986, Cat. No. 60-2397A) is the compact, remote-controlled one, built on the same platform as the TOMY Omni Jr. and Omnibot Jr. It rolls on rubber tires and treads.
Robie Sr
The Robie Sr shares its drive and arm hardware with the Omnibot 5402 and the Hearoid, so the same reproduction parts fit all three. The pieces that wear out first are the arm linkage, the rubber grippers, the treads and tires, and the battery terminals.
See the full Robie Sr, Omnibot 5402, and Hearoid guide and parts.
Robie Junior
The Robie Junior shares its tires and treads with the TOMY Omni Jr. and Omnibot Jr. On most of these the rubber is cracked, flat, or gone entirely. We cast new tires and treads for them from our own molds.
See the full Robie Junior, Omni Jr., and Omnibot Jr. guide and parts. We also wrote up how we change the tires on a Robie Junior.
Looking for a Robie?
We make the parts, not the robots, so we don't sell complete units. Robies turn up on eBay and among collectors. When you land one, we'll have what it needs to run again.