Fascinating Look Back at Nintendo's Family Computer Robot, Also Known as R.O.B.

Photo credit: Phil Summers
Some would say that the Family Computer Robot, also known as R.O.B. (Robotic Operating Buddy), for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) saved the company, while others don’t even know what the accessory does. Nintendo wanted consumers to view the robot as a bridge between the player and the game, as they headlined many retail floor displays with a huge R.O.B. head model.

Technically speaking, it was a “photosensing video game control system”, boasting the same optical electronics as the NES Zapper. This means that it only functions properly with a cathode-ray tube (CRT) television and not an LCD, or even the more modern OLED screens. Games can send six distinct commands to R.O.B. by flashing the screen. Speaking of games, only two officially licensed games were published for R.O.B.: Gyromite and Stack-Up.