The Year of the Robot Revolution: Android Amusement Corporation's DC-2

In the year 1982, the robot revolution had finally arrived, captivating the public's imagination like never before. The likes of Star Wars and other science fiction movies had sparked a fascination with androids and robotic companions, leading to dozens of entrepreneurs and start-ups attempting to capitalize on this high-tech obsession. One of the forerunners in this endeavor was the Android Amusement Corporation.

The company's electro-mechanical creations were conceived as fun entertainment devices, built to dazzle the public at trade shows and get-togethers. Their androids were designed to be a novelty, a way to make people laugh and have a good time. However, by 1982, one of their bots, the DC-2, was making headlines for everything from participating in legal protests to serving drinks in the Playboy Mansion, to being apprehended by the Beverly Hills Police Department in what was likely the first robot "arrest" ever.

So, what happened? To understand this story, we need to take a step back and look at how it all began. The Android Amusement Corporation of Arcadia, California, was the brainchild of Mr. Gene Beley, a 38-year-old journalist who had become fascinated with the world of electronics after covering a speech by science fiction author Ray Bradbury. Prior to this company, Beley was involved in maintaining video arcade cabinets and pinball machines, but he saw an opportunity to leverage his new interest in robotics to create something unique.

In becoming the west coast representative of Quasar Industries Incorporated, which built "Sales Promotional Androids," having the word "android" in the new company name seemed fitting. The inclusion of the word "amusement" was also deliberate, emerging from Beley's personal philosophy on their android products. These were not just machines; they were entertainment devices, show robots, which he called "mobile entertainment centers." Several companies with promises of autonomous android servants and domestic robots had failed to meet expectations already, and Beley wasn't keen on misleading anyone.

Their first bot was Quasar Industry's Klatu, a 240-pound, five-foot-four-inch-tall machine that was available to rent for tradeshows, parties, county fairs, and anyone who had between $700 and $2000 a day to spare. Klatu could be outfitted in various bodies depending on the venue, but the idea remained the same: it was a remote-operated machine that could be rolled around to talk with patrons and crack jokes with sci-fi flair. It wasn't long before Android Amusement severed ties with Quasar and began development on their own androids.

Initially, this was done with the help of Mr. Ray Raymond, a designer of restaurant equipment who had contacted Beley after reading an article he'd written about robotics. Their first bot was one they named Argon: a 300-pound, five-foot-tall machine that initially cost about $50,000 in parts to produce in 1979. Much like Klatu before it, Argon wasn't a "robot" in the strictest definition, seeing as it wasn't autonomous, but was rather a remote-controlled entertainment machine.

Argon was packed with electronics to let it move around, turn its head, move its arms, and play computer games on a small CRT TV in its chest. The whole setup was controlled remotely by an operator just out of sight, and the voice that came from it was spoken by the operator through an inconspicuous wireless mic and broadcasted through Argon. Still, this was one amusing android indeed, captivating audiences young and old at everything from business openings to industry conferences to local bars.

"People may write him off as a space-age Mickey Mouse now," said Beley in 1979, "but he's the wave of the future." It's like the Wright brothers building the first airplane. The possibilities are limitless with robots." This sentiment was echoed by Beley's vision for his company: creating mobile entertainment centers that could bring people together and provide a unique experience.

And they certainly didn't limit their robots to looking like robots either, as another early offering from his company was a pair of motorized mannequins called Adam and Andrea Android. Ray Raymond had left the company by the time these launched, but the core electronics were quite similar in functionality to his Argon creation. The idea behind these androids was to make them more humanoid, ideal for parties and discos. For example, an operator would wheel either of the $10,000 androids over to various party-goers, offer them their hand, and bring them over to the dance floor, all while transmitting speech as their head moved side to side.

In conclusion, the story of Android Amusement Corporation's DC-2 is a tale of innovation and ambition. From its humble beginnings in 1978 to its rise as a symbol of futuristic entertainment in 1982, this robot has left an indelible mark on history. Its journey serves as a reminder that even the most seemingly impossible ideas can become a reality with dedication and perseverance.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enThe year is 1982. And the robot revolution has arrived.In the wake of movies like Star Wars, androidsand robotic companions had captured the public’simagination like never before.As a result there were dozens of entrepreneursand start-ups attempting to capitalize onthis high-tech obsession, with one of theforerunners being the Android Amusement Corporation.Their electro-mechanical creations were conceivedas fun entertainment devices, built to dazzlethe public at trade shows and get-togethers.But by 1982, one of their bots known as theDC-2 was making headlines for everything fromparticipating in legal protests, to servingdrinks in the Playboy Mansion, to being apprehendedby the Beverly Hills Police Department inwhat was likely the first robot “arrest” ever.What happened?This is LGR Tech Tales, where we take a lookat noteworthy stories of technological inspiration,failure, and everything in-between.This episode tells the tale of the AndroidAmusement DC-2: Robotic Outlaw.Our story begins in 1978 with the AndroidAmusement Corporation of Arcadia, California.Previously known as Games People Play, AndroidAmusement was the brainchild of Mr. Gene Beley,a 38-year-old journalist who’d become fascinatedwith the world of electronics after coveringa speech by science fiction author Ray Bradbury.Previously this company focused on maintainingvideo arcade cabinets and pinball machines,but on becoming the west coast representativeof Quasar Industries Incorporated, who built“Sales Promotional Androids,”having theword “android” in the new company name seemed fitting.“Amusement” was a key part of the nameas well, emerging from Mr. Beley’s personalphilosophy on their android products.And that was they were amusement devices, show robots,which he called “mobile entertainment centers.”Several companies with promises of autonomousandroid servants and domestic robots had failedto meet expectations already, and Beley wasn’tkeen on misleading anyone.The first bot they sold was Quasar Industry’sKlatu, a 240 pound, five foot four inch tallmachine that was available to rent for tradeshows, parties, county fairs, and anyone whohad between $700 and $2000 a day to spare.Klatu could be outfitted in various bodiesdepending on the venue, but the idea remainedthe same: it was a remote-operated machinethat could be rolled around to talk with patronsand crack jokes with sci-fi flair.But it wasn’t long before Android Amusementsevered ties with Quasar and began developmenton their own androids.Initially this was done with the help of Mr.Ray Raymond, a designer of restaurant equipmentwho’d contacted Beley after reading an articlehe’d written about robotics.Their first bot was one they named Argon:a 300 pound, five foot tall machine that initiallycost about $50,000 in parts to produce in1979.Much like Klatu before it, Argon wasn’ta “robot” in the strictest definition,seeing as it wasn’t autonomous, but wasrather a remote-controlled entertainment machine.Argon was packed with electronics to let itmove around, turns its head, move its arms,and play computer games on a small CRT TVin its chest.The whole setup was controlled remotely byan operator just out of sight, and the voicethat came from it was spoken by the operatorthrough an inconspicuous wireless mic andbroadcast through Argon.Still, this was one amusing android indeed,captivating audiences young and old at everythingfrom business openings, to industry conferences,to local bars.“People may write him off as a space ageMickey Mouse now,but he’s the wave of the future,” said Beley in 1979.“It’s like the Wright brothers buildingthe first airplane.The possibilities are limitless with robots.”And they certainly didn’t limit their robotsto looking like robots either, as anotherearly offering from his company was a pairof motorized mannequinscalled Adam and Andrea Android.Ray Raymond had left the company by the timethese launched, but the core electronics werequite similar in functionality to his Argoncreation.The idea was to make Adam and Andrea morehumanoid, ideal for parties and discos.For example, an operator would wheel eitherof the $10,000 androids over to various party-goers,offer them their hand, and bring them overto the dance floor, all while transmittingspeech as their head moved side to side.\"Those two androids were basically novelties,\"said Beley in later years.\"We felt that the next logical step was arobot that served a useful purpose.\"What resulted in the latter half of 1980 wasThe Drink Caddy 1, or DC-1, which did exactlyas the name suggests: it was a caddy for drinks.Built on top of a motorized wheelchair baseand controlled using 72MHz RC aircraft components,DC-1 cost around $5,000 and stood four anda half feet tall.It held a tray for delivering 10-ounce mixeddrinks, stored bottles and canned beveragesinside its body, had metallic arms made fromSweetheart cup dispensers, played music froman AM/FM radio in its chest, and kept chilledice cubes under a removable plastic head.And while it never sold in great numbers,only being stocked in a single Beverly Hillsboutique, the revenue from selling and rentingout the DC-1 was enough to create a successor.Finally, Android Amusement’s ultimate showbot was released: the DC-2.Priced between $9,000 and $20,000 and standingat four and a half feet tall, the Drink Caddy2 was a culmination of the best tech availablein 1981.It still had a tray for carrying drinks, butnow you could swap out the booze for an 8-bitmicrocomputer system, with an Atari 400 anda Commodore VIC-20 as the most common options.These ran through a 5 or 9 inch color CRTTV in its chest, handy for both playing gamesand displaying promotional material from thecomputer or a VHS player.And like every bot going back to Klatu ithad a speaker system for broadcasting thevoice of a remote operator, AM/FM radio, aswell as optional dual 8-track cassette playersfor playing music, sound effects, and pre-recordedspeech.And on top of its sleek fiberglass body wasa bulbous transparent head containing an integratedvideo camera, which when output through aTV would show the DC-2’s point of view.And even though it was only being producedat 6 units a month, demand was high relativeto previous bots, with exports to Japan, England,Australia, South Africa, and West Germany.For a while the DC-2 was seemingly poppingup everywhere.It was on the cover of National GeographicWorld.It was a headline feature of retail promotionevents at Dayton’s Department Stores in Minnesota.It hosted student tours through the facilitiesof computer storage company, Verbatim.It was the robot mascot for Fromex One HourPhoto Systems.It showed up in the May 1981 issue of Playboymagazine after a specially-built DC-2 waspurchased for Hugh Hefner and gifted to himfor Christmas with the help of Bob Keeshan,better known as Captain Kangaroo.A DC-2 even ended up picketing in front ofthe San Mateo County Public Courthouse, hiredto protest the state’s divorce lawsand blasting the song “She Got the Goldmine (I Got the Shaft)” by Jerry Reed.\"This must be the most unusual assignmentwe've had yet.I think it's the first time a robot ever picketedanywhere.”And it certainly wouldn’t be the last unusualDC-2 event Gene Beley would be questioned over.On August 18, 1982 a DC-2 was seen roamingthe streets of Beverly Hills, just off thefamous Sunset Boulevard on North Beverly Drive.Its operator was nowhere in sight, but itwas rolling up and down the sidewalks, talkingto passers-by, and offering up Android Amusementcompany business cards.Not only that, but it was rush hour, and theDC-2’s presence was slowing down trafficeven more and starting to draw a crowd.The police arrived on-scene, assuming it wassome kind of unauthorized publicity stunt,asking the DC-2 to identify what it was doingthere and who was controlling it.After the unseen operator refused to identifythemselves or shut down the robot, the officersbegan looking for a way to disable the battery.The robot began fleeing the police,reportedlyshouting “Help me, they’re trying to take me apart!”After a brief pursuit they were able to disablethe bot, load it onto a tow truck, and hauledit to the nearest precinct to be locked upuntil the owner was found.Since it was stocked with Mr. Beley’s business cards,investigators headed to his home for questioning.It was determined that he wasn’t the onecontrolling the DC-2, but rather it was aresult of his two sons taking it out for ajoy ride of sorts.Scott and Shawn Beley, then aged 17 and 15respectively, had taken the DC-2 out of theback of the van they were driving, it havingbeen left in there after a promo event the day prior.The boys decided to have a bit of fun in thesuburbs of Beverly Hills, but panicked afterthe police arrived, leaving the bot behindas it was hauled off to jail.Initially suspecting it was an adult behindthe robot’s actions, Beverly Hills PD hadplanned to charge its owner with operatinga business without the proper license, solicitationof business on a public sidewalk, and obstructingan officer in the performance of his duty.But after talking to the two youngsters, theydecided not to charge anyone, passing themoff to the department’s Youth Services Section.In the end, the duo had to pay a $40 towingfee and received a talking-to from youth servicesabout what’s allowed on the sidewalks ofBeverly Hills.\"The kids had it without permission and werejust screwing around.There will be no criminal filing.”said Lieutenant Russell Olson, quickly followingit up with “I'll guarantee you, if otherpeople try it we will run the gauntlet.We don't take something like this lightly.\"As for what happened with the DC-2 afterward?Well after being freed from jail, so to speak,and making headlines around the country, itwent onto be used for promotional events forseveral years, along with its DC-2 siblings.One unit ended up playing the role of a robotbutler in the 1984 feature film, Covergirl,starring the late Jeff Conaway as a tech entrepreneurcharacter who, among other things, designedrobots and androids.DC-2s were repurposed for use in TV showsas well, like Episode 20 of the third seasonof the show Hill Street Blues, where a unitthey called the TK4600 was outfitted in armorplating and weaponry.Another DC-2 received a fancy tuxedo-cladoverhaul, referred to as Mr. Telebot, whichroamed conference center hallways anddanced to Bruce Springsteen songs at the 1985 Robot World Congress.But this popularity peaked in the mid-80s,with Android Amusement losing momentum aspublic interest moved on.Ray Raymond, the company’s original robotdesigner, ended up working on other robotics-relatedproducts under Animation International, likethe 15 foot tall Blastar Spaceship prototype:a smoke-filled maze filled with robots thatparticipants blasted with lasers.That was the idea at least, if this $250,000amusement device was ever produced.And Gene Beley continued his career in journalism:founding, editing, and publishing the CountryNews publication in Morgan Hill, California,and authoring a monthly article for Sea Magazinefrom his 28-foot yacht floating in the CaliforniaDelta.He also made the media rounds in the mid-2000sfor his alternate recordings of Johnny Cash’sfamous 1968 “At Folsom Prison” performance,as well as writing a 234-page biography onRay Bradbury, the author who’d inspiredhis foray into electronics in the first place.But the DC-2 robots and the company behindthem gradually faded into obscurity whilethe idea of a robot revolution was once againrelegated to science fiction.Even if that much-hyped uprising still hasn’ttaken place as advertised, the 21st centuryhas seen a notable uptick in the adoptionof robotic and artificially intelligent companions.They may not yet do much more than clean yourfloors, perform interactive search enginequeries, or look supremely unsettling, butnow more than ever the idea of a future filledwith robots seems inevitable.Only time will tell though if one of thesemodern machines will ever claim the honorof being incarcerated by police in BeverlyHills.And if you enjoyed this episode of LGR TechTales then thank you very much!This one’s been in the works for quite sotime.So subscribe if you would like or check backfor new videos every week.And as always thank you very much for watching!\n"