[ UNIT: MR ROBOTHAM THE GREAT ]

Manufacturer: Peter Holland, Hemel Hempstead (UK)

Year: 1980

Type: Life-size humanoid show robot (radio-controlled)

Features: 6 ft 3 in yet only 6 ½ lb; biped walking gait; knees fold so it can sit; radio-controlled handshake; torso yaw ≈180°; cassette-tape voice playback; onboard Ni-Cd pack good for ~3 h demos; all motion driven by a 3-channel 27 MHz R/C handset — built from ultra-light materials to prove full-scale figures didn’t need heavy industrial parts 

Purpose: Travelling crowd-pleaser for hobby & model-engineering fairs, showcasing how hobby-grade radio-control gear could animate a human-height figure 

Note: Final – and most ambitious – entry in Holland’s “Mr Robotham” series (1955-80); more theatre than autonomy, but a landmark DIY statement at the dawn of Britain’s personal-robot era source