2-XL

For the Estonian band formerly known as 2XL, see Soul Militia.

2-XL

Type	Educational toy robot
Inventor(s)	Michael J. Freeman (inventor) Michael J. Freeman
Company	Mego Corporation (1978-1981) Tiger Electronics (1992-1995)
Country	United States
Availability	1978–1981; 1992–1995

2-XL was the first smart-toy and exhibited rudimentary intelligence, memory, game play, and responsiveness. Scholastic Magazine in its cover story considered the 2-XL robot as one of the most important toys ever developed in a class with the Teddy Bear, Barbie Doll, Raggedy Ann, Mickey Mouse among others. The robot was a popular educational toy whose success anticipated the dominant influence of technology in education today. Dubbed the "Toy with a Personality," 2-XL could respond verbally to the user depending upon which "input or answer" buttons were chosen. Two-decades after 2-XL was discontinued for manufacture, it is still remembered by millions of fans. In fact a search of 2-XL Robot (or 2XL Robot) on the Internet, retrieves more than one-million hits together depending on whether the dash is in the name or not. Part of the reason for this is the connection the toy made between education and fun. "2-XL was a glorious display of plastic robotics."

2XL during its run was one of the most popular toys in terms of market revenue. "The 2XL was hot, in demand, and everyone wanted one." "It was a great way to make learning cool and fun." 2-XL was introduced in 1978. The toy was invented and licensed for manufacture by Michael J. Freeman, inventor, Ph.D. and was patented.The voice for 2-XL was done by Freeman. He used a synthesizer to make the voice a high-pitched robot-like sound, yet his voice and the personality he created for the toy, came through this process. 2-XL was interactive, playing various tracks from a magnetic audio tape depending on the user's actions. It also had complex applications where the various tracks were not only selected to create interactivity, but the use of staggering the tracks, and psdo memory were also utilized. It was released in two different time periods. The 1978 release was produced by Mego Corporation, and used 8-track tapes. It was brought back in 1992 by Tiger Electronics in a version that used cassette tapes rather than 8-track cartridges. During its time 2_XL in either version won hundreds of awards including Disney's Family Fun Magazine award for best toy of 1992, and Right Start Magazine which selected 2-XL as Europe's best toy in the 3 - 5 year category for 1993.

History and development

During the start, Freeman had a hard time convincing toy companies of the benefits his toy will provide. A lot of companies turned down his idea, many of which said the project was too expensive and impractical for them to invest much to an educational toy. Also, during that time a lot of parents too were reluctant to buy educational toys for their children. Most manufacturers also think that the toy will not sell, and will not become successful for its cartridges that could become lost or misplaced.

After offering it to a lot of companies, Mego Corporation, a toy company based in New York City and headed by Martin Abrams, took a chance with Freeman's toy invention. In 1978, the toy was introduced to the public and became a success. The toy was sold in different countries and was voiced in seven languages, including English. A lot of games were also developed for the toy. In 1981, the toy's popularity waned and later on discontinued.

In 1992, the toy was re-introduced by Tiger Electronics, a toy company based in Vernon Hills, Illinois. The toy was change into a much modern design, and toy cartridges were also re-introduced. The voice for this version was done by Freeman as well and were done into many different languages. The toy's success was also the basis for a game show called Pick Your Brain produced by Marc Summers Productions and Summit Media Group. The 2-XL robot in the show served as the assistant of Marc Summers. 2-XL was also a spokesrobot for the famous basketball player Michael Jordan, and his charitable Foundation in 1992 and 1993.

Program

The 8-track tapes focused around a robot with a New York accent, voiced by Freeman himself, who would speak as if the listener were right there with him wherever he happened to be in the story line. He would ask multiple-choice questions based on the subject of the tape, and the user would answer the question he asked by pushing the corresponding button. A right answer resulted in 2-XL congratulating the user on his knowledge, while a wrong answer would result in a razzing as 2-XL explained what the proper answer was. In between questions, there would sometimes be a story going on that the user was involved in, with the answers to the questions corresponding to the storyline. Other times 2-XL would crack a joke and laugh at his own humor with a funny sounding laugh that was one of the many running gags that would be found on almost every tape in the series. Originally the programs were very basic. There was just one general story line. Each track flowed through the same time length, differing only by telling the user if he or she was right or wrong. Eventually, Dr. Freeman started to take advantage of the four tracks found on a tape to have up to three different interactive programs on one tape.

There were some general similarities to each tape. The first was 2-XL's worling and buzzing sound effects as it was switch on by the user, as if the user was activating a huge robot (although he would often refer to its size as only a foot or so tall). 2XL would always introduce himself in the same way, saying, "Thank you for turning me on. I am 2-XL..." The voice did not sound robotic, and was pretty much Freeman's voice only a bit faster speaking and more sophisticated sounding. There would always be a moment where the user had to push the Question button, as that went back to track one, which is where the main talking took place. There was always music or beeping sounds while the user would think, or while the new questions were loading, to make the program space out properly. Towards the end of the tape 2-XL would give the user a warning that he was getting tired and that it was time to wrap things up with one last question. He was always very friendly and acted very human, as if he was a new buddy that wanted to help the user learn in the most enjoyable way possible. His humor was silly as were his wisecracks, but the same themes were found throughout the various tapes, getting more and more creative as the future tapes were introduced. He would often say "Please turn me off now" and often relate the reason he had to go somehow to the topic of the tape.

2-XL came with one tape, titled "General Information", which touched on various topics such as sports, movies, and pop culture. Each of the various other program tapes was sold separately and most came with a separate activity book that could be used as well while doing the activity with 2-XL. Some also came with faceplate cards that could be placed over the various buttons that had different words on them that were specifically to be used for that certain program tape. Not all of the tapes were educational, some told stories that the user would just listen to able to answer a few questions about them afterwards. Not all tapes were focused around 2-XL either. Other voices would appear on them depending on what the focus of each tape was. But somewhere 2-XL's voice would show up to keep everything in the same universe. There were also two-tape sets that would continue on with the theme of the first tape after the user finished it.

Versions

Mego Corporation version

The 2-XL educational toy robot distributed by Mego Corporation in 1978

The original version, created by Mego Corporation, was made of brown plastic with white plastic found on the anterior face of the toy the robot. It has two red light bulbs for the eyes. These bulbs also flushed at moments while 8-track cartridge tape programs are played. It had four red buttons on its stomach. Each of it has designated options for questions asked by the toy, such as "Question," "A or Yes Or True," "B or More Info," and "C or No or False. A knob is also found on the lower right portion of the toy which serves as a function for its volume and power. At the bottom was a large slot for the 8-track cartridge tapes.

This particular version was essentially a regular 8-track player, but by utilizing unique, clever, and patented mathematical decision tree programming methods, over 20 interactive modes of operation were achieved.It seemed to most people like a computer which had enough information and interactive questions to entertain and educate a child (or adult) up to two hours. Subjects included sports quiz, Guinness Book of World Records, the metric system, general information and jokes.

The mold and look got a minor change in 1980. The eye lights became red and responded to the voice while the volume was turned more louder. The flashing lights also became more brighter, and the speaker in the back of the unit was changed from a hexagon shape to a more traditional round speaker shape. The plastic was more shinier and more glossier looking. There were about 50 program tapes made for the Mego 2-XL. Over three millions of the Robots were sold and more than 25 million interactive-software-cartridges were also sold. The toy was highly popular in its first 6 years, but as most toy do. it faded into obscurity after the turn of the decade. The toy will often show up on auction sites and in used toy stores. They aren't rare by any means, but aren't in mass quantities either. Some of the tapes can be harder to find; the last year tapes are rarer due to the decreased popularity of the toy in its last year on the market.

Tiger Electronics version

A 2-XL X-Men casette tape.

Tiger Electronics re-introduced 2-XL in 1992. Instead of using 8-track cartridge tapes, this version used cassette tapes that were twice the length of the tapes in the previous version and had a better sound quality. Freeman again recorded the toy's voice in a professional sound studio. In addition to eyes that would light up the toy now sported a circle for a mouth that could light up as the machine talked. The toy could now run on batteries and had a headphone jack. Instead of the buttons simply switching tracks on the 8-track tape as in the old version, the cassette version took advantage of the fact that a cassette has a total of four tracks - one for the left and right channel on each side. The tape head in the player could play any of the four parallel tracks, based on which button was pressed. Playing a 2-XL tape in a standard tape player would result in different audio on the left and right channels, and if the reverse side was played, one would hear the other two tracks played in reverse. Using all four tracks simultaneously was unique to 2-XL and provided the basis for the interactive give and take.

The 2-XL version with its cassette tapes distributed by Tiger Electronics in 1992

As with the previous version, this version could play any standard tape of similar tape, but the user needed to first push the "Question" button (or the "2/A/No" button would work as well, playing the correct channel). Pressing three or four buttons would play one of the channels on the reverse side of the tape backwards.

Newly released tapes were branded with comic book and cartoon characters, including Spider-Man, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, X-Men and Batman. 2-XL games would allow the user to go on an adventure with various superheroes, deciding their fate by pushing one of the buttons. The second version was on the market from 1992 through 1996, and about 45 tapes were released in total. The toy was sold internationally, including in Japan, Germany, Hungary, Italy, France, England, Canada, and others. The tapes were translated into many foreign languages, but were not recorded by Freeman.

Educational Division

Tiger Educational Division was set up so Tiger Electronics and Freeman could work together to create and built robots that would be bundled along with 6 curriculum tapes based upon schoolwork required in a number of grades, a teacher's guide, earphones, and sold to school districts as a package deal.

TV Game Show Spinoff

This version of 2-XL even spawned a TV Game Show named Pick Your Brain. A 10-foot replica of the Tiger Electronics 2-XL was used on the set to ask questions and offer extra information on the topic being talked about. The show was hosted by Marc Summers and syndicated by Rysher Entertainment which primarily creates TV Shows to be distributed around the world by CBS Television Distribution and Paramount Pictures. Greg Berg did the 2-XL voice live during the show using a voice synthesizer to make it robotic enough to sound like the toy version of the 2-XL tapes. This show ran from 1993 to 1994. As of 2012 it is still in syndication but not in the United States.

Tapes

List of 2-XL tapes manufactured by Tiger Electronics between 1992 and 1995

General Information (Sold with each toy robot. The remainder programs were each sold separately:

Sportsworld (1992) Fun and Games (1992) World of Animals (1992) World of Science (1992) Monsters, Myths, & Dinosaurs (1992) World of Animals (1992) Trivia Time (1992) Amazing World's Records (1992) Fascinating Facts (1992) Storymaker (1992) Fascinating Facts (1992) Storymaker (1992) African Safari (1993) Jurassic Facts (1993) Batman: Carnival of Crime (1993)

Treasure Chest of Facts and Fun (1993) Voyage to Outer Space (1993) Batman: The Sizzling Scheme (1993) Music Maker (1993) Oceans of Fun (1993) Planet Earth (1993) Pet Parade (1993) Counting (1994) - Scholastic Series Food Facts and You (1994) Fun With Words (1994) - Scholastic Series Incredible Sports Feats (1994) Are You Afraid of the Dark - Nickelodeon (1994) Geography & You (1994) Power Rangers (1994) All-Time Top Topics (1994)

Careers & You (1994) Nature & You (1994) Ripley's Believe It Or Not!: The Strange & True! (1994) Safety First (1994) Say Hello to Famous Folks (1994) Spider-Man: For King and Country (1994) Stars and Planets Game (1994) Star Trek- The Next Generation: Blinded by the Light (1994) Superman- The Man of Steel: Mayhem in Metropolis (1994) Superman- The Man of Steel: A New Hero In Town (1994) Surprise Package (1994) X-Men: Deadly Games (1994) X-Men: Ghosts That Haunt Us (1994) Robotstronomy (1994) Robottrivia (1994)

Trilex

One of the last tapes released for the Mego Corporation version of 2XL was "Trilex", a complete board game designed to be played against 2XL. The tape came with a board which fitted over the front of the 2XL unit itself, with the board in front of the tape slot. The game board consisted of an inverted pyramid shape, 4 squares wide at the top to 1 square at the bottom, with each row colored in a different color (Blue, Yellow, Green, and Tan), and 4 slots through which pieces (which 2XL called "checkers") could be dropped into the pyramid. The slots aligned with 2XL's 4 buttons, with the intention that dropping the checker would also press the appropriate track button on 2XL. The objective of the game was to create either a line or a triangle of 3 checkers of your own color. The game and tape design are interesting because they enabled the 4-track tape player to provide a passable simulation of a game-playing AI.

Several "tricks" had to be used: an additional set of "front" slots that did not interact with the buttons were provided, and 2XL occasionally told the player to "make a move in the front" so that the track would not change. 2XL would also ask the player to "remember a codeword" at certain points in the game, and to repeat it back later. Often the game would end before the tape did, meaning that 2XL would prompt the player with "please turn my volume down to zero", after which the player would have to wait for the remainder of the current game's recording to wind through before a track-changing "click" signaled they should turn the volume back up. (For this reason, Tri-lex was the only 2XL tape that did not say "thank you for turning me on" at the start, since the player was expected to play several games in a single session.) Finally, although the tape appears to loop after one game, it in fact has four games recorded on it.

The game itself is easily solved, and correctly played always ends in a win for the starting player, unless purposely programmed to do otherwise. . The tape was thus more valuable for teaching pattern recognition than as a genuine board game. On the tape, the player can in fact beat 2XL, but only on two of the recorded games (those where the human player goes first). The player can defeat 2XL by using the guaranteed win, or - on occasion - by using other strategies where 2XL "makes a mistake". 2XL does not use the guaranteed win strategy against human players.

The guaranteed win is as follows: first player plays Tan (forced, only space available), second player plays Green 1/2 (forced, only spaces available - which one does not matter, as the ensuing positions are mirror images of each other; continue following the moves on the appropriate side of the /), first player plays Green 2/1, second player plays Yellow 3/1 (forced, else first player plays it and wins with a line), first player plays Yellow 2, second player plays Blue (3 or 4)/(1 or 2), first player plays Blue (4 or 3)/(2 or 1) (forced, else second player plays it and wins with a triangle), second player plays Yellow 1/3 (forced, only space available), first player plays Blue 2/3 and wins with a line of three.

Merchandising

A number of secondary products were licensed under the 2-XL (2XL) name including: laptop computer bags;, earphones, lunch boxes and more.

Similar toys

Kasey the Kinderbot

Kasey the Kinderbot was also a toy designed by Freeman which was targeted at kids aged 3–7. Instead of tapes as with the previous versions, this toy used small gigital cartridges that were not linear - the user was able to jump around to various sections at will. It was purely an educational toy with cartridges focusing on such subjects as Math, Science and languages. The cartridges were also color-coded to let kids know what group of subject it belonged to. The toy was first released in 2002 by Fisher-Price a division of the Mattell Toy Company. It produced a total profit of over $70 million. Spin-off characters included Toby the Totbot, which focused specifically on teaching letters and numbers, and Fetch the Phonicsbot which was a dog-shaped robot holding a letter board which was aimed at the toddler age group. Freeman did not provide the voice.

See also

• Dr. Michael J. Freeman
• Mego Corporation
• Tiger Electronics
• Talk 'n Play, another toy created by Dr. Freeman

External links

• World of 2-XL An extensive source on anything regarding 2-XL and its inventor, Dr. Michael J. Freeman.
• Unofficial 2-XL Page
• 2-XL Simulator – An online web simulator with dozens of the original cartridges.
• The original 2-XL patent retrieved from Google Patents
• The Old Robots