STORY: One of my past hobbies that spanned from 1993 to 1999 involved classic coin-operated video arcade games like Asteroids, Star Wars, Robotron, and Tempest. I collected, restored, bought, sold, traded, and modified them. As one would expect from abused 15-year-old electronics, they required much maintenance and care. Because of the huge size of the game cabinets, I usually modified them to house several games, selectable either by flipping a switch or swapping electronic cable connectors.

I also collected classic console video games (Atari, Vectrex, Intellivision, etc.). One obscure swap meet find was a Nintendo Robotic Operating Buddy (ROB) accessory for the 8-bit NES. Sadly, he was crippled, missing one of his hands that he needed to pick up his gyroscopes for the Gyromite game, so I machined for him a prosthetic replacement.

SPECS: Maintaining the arcade games required considerable electronics and monitor troubleshooting. Converting cabinets into multi-game machines consisted of making custom wiring harnesses, packaging extra circuit boards into the cabinet, and sometimes modifying the control panel to change the assortment of buttons, joysticks, and other controls. Restoration of some games required structural and cosmetic woodworking, extensive wiring, and some structural metalworking.

As for the Nintendo ROB, I'm pleased to announce that the prosthetic hand operation was a success.

TECH DETAILS : Not likely...