It all started in the year 1982.  I was 13 years old at the time and my dad was the owner of a medium sized R&D company who did design work for various arcade game manufacturers.  My dad being in the field he was in afforded me certain privileges that other kids my age didn't have.  This particular perk included the chance to see a prototype I, Robot at the Atari labs before it was released to the general public.  I was allowed to "test" the game ...and boy did I savor my time with this machine!  I immediately made note of the 3D-like graphics as something I had never seen prior.  Game play wasn't so great, but I was really drawn to the look of the game.  The prototype didn't look like the full production model you see to the left, BTW.  It looked much like a Crystal Castles cabinet, but dressed in all black, which was released around the same time as I, Robot.

Many months later, I saw a production model (as pictured to the left) at the local arcade and another one at the Golf n' Stuff....and a third at Camelot (another miniature golf place).  The first thing I noticed at all three places?  No line to play the game.  In fact, NOBODY playing the game!  Obviously, this game was a goner unless something changed....and fast!  Sadly, nobody seemed to like the game (come to find out it was "ahead of it's time") and it was pulled from the floor at every arcade within a few weeks.

Fast forward to the year 1988.  I quickly worked my way up the ladder and became the head tech at a local arcade repair shop.  I had a knack for repairing the "impossible" boards, specifically multi-board setups using nothing more than a logic probe, signal injector and multi-meter.  By this time, I had seen tons of I, Robots pass through the shop.  These were one of the few games that made it into collectors hands at an early point in their life.  Because it was such a poor earner, all the operators were eager to get rid of them.  I'm sure they took a big loss offloading them back in the 80's, but space was a premium for a lot of shoe-string budget ops.  Typically, a low earner would get converted to some other game, but I only saw a small handful of I, Robots get converted to something else.  It was most likely because of the odd shape of the cabinet or the hall effect joystick that the game used.

Anyhow, the #1 problem with the games that came into the shop?  You guessed it!!  Yep, it was the joystick.  In an attempt to make a better product with no physical link between the joystick's mechanical (ie: moving) parts and the electronics, Atari came up with the idea of the hall-effect joystick which uses two sensor devices which are based upon a magnetic-electric principle discovered by Edwin Herbert Hall in 1879.  Really, it's an interesting phenomena, but I'll save time and skip the lesson.

Regardless of this interesting concept for a joystick design, it was a failure.  Atari went through three different designs to work out the issues with the electronics -- the last being a successful product in my opinion.  However, they failed to correct the mechanical problems associated with the device.  And these were such minor issues, I'm surprised they didn't bother with them.  Essentially, the joystick will wear out, just like the 720 joystick, the Assault joystick and the "logo" joysticks.  All of these are based on the same basic design - all of which rely on a little plastic "pivot ball" to bear the full brunt of destructive force wielded by teenage gamers.  In a home use environment, this isn't really a concern.

After personally overseeing the repair of these machines for no less than 5 years, I had a good handle on what typically went wrong with them.  The  joystick was the number one issue which far exceeded any other issues.  Second to that, the control panel itself had weak spots to the right and left of the joystick and was prone to cracking.  Also, I'd like to note that there were problems with RAM and one custom chip on the mainboard, too.  Really, the joystick was the main issue, hands down.

I started to notice an increasing number of failing and/or missing controllers.  In the beginning, Atari, of course, was happy to supply the required parts to no end.  However, within a very short time-span, they completely ran out of  the necessary components to maintain these joysticks.  That was a big problem, too.  Since then, the popular method of obtaining a controller has been to find a used one in the collector circles (ie: RGVAC, EBAY, etc) which you can bet came from a parted out machine.  On occasion, NOS controllers become available and they're typically grabbed up quickly and for a very high price!  In recent years, the only reliable source of parts for this joystick has been at www.videogameparts.com.  But they are running low (or even out of stock in some cases) on the parts they have for this joystick.  Nobody has ever made any reproduction parts for this joystick....yet.

Construction Progress

	04/01/07:  The Hall Effect controller reproduction project started in April 2007.  I based our design on the last revision of the joystick which was used in Escape from the Planet of the Robot Monsters.  Both the joystick itself and the Hall Effect board reproduction parts we're working on are based on this OEM design. About the only real changes I'll be making to this will be with the materials used.  I'll use Delrin for the plunger, pivot ball, actuator and actuator half-ball.  Delrin has better wear characteristics than the nylon material that Atari used with the original joystick, so our reproduction parts should perform much better.  I'll probably upgrade the lower housing to aluminum...or at the very least thicken up the plastic areas inside to give the pivot ball more surface area to brace against. Our Hall Effect PCB assembly will be identical to the OEM version 3 PCB assembly used by Atari as it is of sufficient quality.
	04/01/07:  I generally purchase hardware items as the first step in creating a new reproduction item.  however, it appears that we're already stocked up on all the parts needed for this project.  That's a great start!!
	04/01/07:  I completed the 1000pc run of the plungers earlier last year, ahead of this project.  They're used in so many different versions of Atari's joysticks and a bunch of people were asking for them, I decided to run off a big batch of them to keep everyone happy.  Good news is that I don't have to worry about making this part for the Hall Effect sticks!  That's an even better start!  This part is used to automatically center the joystick.  It's one of several components which is prone to severe wear in the OEM joysticks.  Our reproduction version is made from machined Delrin.  Delrin is someone like the original material that Atari used (Nylon) but it has much better wear properties.
	05/29/07:  1000pc batch of pivot balls have been completed.  Pictured is a small assortment of the freshly manufactured parts.  They're made of machined delrin and they should outperform the original part substantially.  Aside from this "upgrade" they're identical to the OEM pivot balls made by Atari.
	06/12/07:  2000pc order for the special Hall Effect sensors just came in.  They appear to be a perfect match for what we've been trying to source for the last month.  Excellent news!  This was the single item which could have potentially halted the reproduction of this joystick.  We're all good now!
	07/24/07: 1000pc batch of Hall Effect PCB's fresh from fabrication.  Pictured is are a few stacks of "unstuffed" PCB's.  They're nearly identical to the OEM PCB's made by Atari.

Updates

04/01/07 - This project has officially begun.  We have several OEM joysticks in our possession, so we have all the parts necessary to measure up for reproduction.  Also, it looks like we're good as far as the hardware goes -- we won't need to purchase anymore screws/nuts/bolts for this one.  Lastly, the plungers (part number 039712-01) were already reproduced last year, so that's one less part we'll have to worry about.

05/29/07 - Ok, the very first part has been reproduced since the project began.  We now have a 1000 piece lot of pivot balls (part number 039716-01) available for the HE joystick as well as the 720 joystick, the Assault joystick and the Logo joysticks (the one used on Gauntlet and Gauntlet II).  They're made from machined Delrin and they turned out beautifully!!

06/12/07 - So I've been looking for the little Hall Effect sensors for the last couple of months now with very little luck.  I dug through the file cabinets full of paperwork and found a secondary part number that Atari used at one point when the original part became unavailable.  I began my search for the alternate part number and came up with a source for a couple of thousand pieces.  I bought them out on the spot.  A few days later (today), we now have them in stock.

06/20/07 - With the toughest part to find in hand, I've decided to work on the Hall Effect PCB as the next step in this reproduction process.  I've fired up PCAD and away I go.

07/05/07 - The drawing of the PCB is finished and I'm ready to fab up a run of maybe 1000 pieces of the PCB. 

07/24/07 - As of today, the 1000pc run of the Hall Effect PCB's is completed.  All we need to do is machine the little white sensor blocks and assemble the boards.

03/29/08 - This project BLOG has just been converted  from notes and pics taken awhile back and added to the website for reference.  This project is still in the beginning stages of production and only a few items have been successfully reproduced.  However, the design is simple enough that we'll be able to complete this project with no issues.  However, it will take time since there are many parts to reproduce.  Our final production model will be based on the final HE joystick version used in Escape from the Planet of the Robot Monsters which Atari released in 1989.  Our reproduction model will be 100% compatible and interchangeable with the OEM joystick.

[Home]  [About]  [Products]  [BLOGs]  [Wanted]  [FAQ]  [Vendors]  [Order]  [Links]  [Contact]