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Fischertechnik is a brand of construction toy. It was invented by
Artur Fischer Artur Fischer (31 December 1919 – 27 January 2016) was a German inventor. He is best known for inventing the plastic expanding wall plug. Born in Tumlingen, Artur Fischer was the son of the village tailor Georg Fischer. His mother Pauline, ...
and is produced by fischertechnik GmbH in Waldachtal, Germany. Fans often refer to Fischertechnik as "FT" or "ft". It is used in education for teaching about simple machines, as well as motorization and mechanisms. The company also offers computer interface technology, which can be used to teach the theory of automation and robotics.


Origin

The company is a German manufacturer of fasteners, and the original Fischertechnik set was intended as a Christmas (1964) novelty gift for engineers and buyers at industrial clients. The gifts proved popular, so for Christmas 1965, the company introduced its first building set for retail sale in Germany. In part, it has been claimed to foster education and interest in technology and science among the young. By about 1970, the construction sets were being sold in the United States at upscale toy retailers such as
FAO Schwarz FAO Schwarz is an American toy brand and store. The company is known for its high-end toys, life-sized stuffed animals, interactive experiences, brand integrations, and games. FAO Schwarz claims to be the oldest toy store in the United States ...
.


Building blocks

The basic building blocks were of channel-and-groove design, manufactured of hard
nylon Nylon is a generic designation for a family of synthetic polymers composed of polyamides ( repeating units linked by amide links).The polyamides may be aliphatic or semi-aromatic. Nylon is a silk-like thermoplastic, generally made from pe ...
. Basic blocks came in 15×15×15 and 15×15×30 millimeter sizes. A peg on one side of each block could be attached into a channel on any of the other five sides of a similar block, producing a tightly-fitting assembly that could assume almost any shape. Red cladding plates could be used to complete the exterior surfaces of the models.


Accessories

The original blocks were characteristically gray with red accessories such as wheels and angled blocks. Electric motors, power sources, and gears were soon added to mobilize models. Additional building pieces such as struts were added in “statics” sets, allowing the construction of realistic-looking bridges and tower cranes. A few Fischertechnik girders actually are made of aluminum. At least one company made Fischertechnik-compatible aluminum bars of any desired length. To teach the physics of such models, some sets included measuring devices, so that trigonometric vectors could be calculated and tested.


Electrical and electronic components

The early sets were sophisticated and were often used by engineers to teach and simulate industrial robotics. This use was advanced by the addition of electrical and electronic components such as microswitches, magnetic-sensing reed switches, and photocells, which sensed position and provided input to motors. With the basic electronic block (''Grundbaustein''), which contained an
operational amplifier An operational amplifier (often op amp or opamp) is a DC-coupled high-gain electronic voltage amplifier with a differential input and, usually, a single-ended output. In this configuration, an op amp produces an output potential (relative to c ...
,
Schmitt trigger In electronics, a Schmitt trigger is a comparator circuit with hysteresis implemented by applying positive feedback to the noninverting input of a comparator or differential amplifier. It is an active circuit which converts an analog input ...
and delay line circuits could be built. In the late 1970s, electronic binary-logic modules ( AND, NAND, OR, NOR, flip-flops) were introduced, so that models could make some branching decisions. Pneumatic devices were made available to provide gripping ability. By the late 1980s, process control CPU modules were added, so that sequences movements could be preprogrammed and executed, first using “ Lucky Logic” (LLWIN) software.


Kits for younger ages

As Lego became more sophisticated with its Mindstorms line, Fischertechnik attempted to move down into less technical, more “fun”, building kits for younger ages. The parts were molded from more colorful plastics, and small building sets were developed for simple models such as vehicles. However, the Fischer products were more expensive and had far fewer parts that replicated everyday objects than Lego. Especially in the United States, Fischertechnik never achieved parity with Lego in the general construction toy market, and FT is still more positioned as a product for schools, engineers, and hobbyists. The sets are not as available at retail as Lego products in the United States, or even in Europe.


Robotic process control

By 2006, Fischertechnik sets were available for robotic process control using “Robo-pro” software (the successor to Lucky-logic), on-board process controllers with flash memory, infrared and radio-frequency remote control, and pneumatic-activation. Robotic models could follow preprogrammed routes or lines on the floor, sense obstructions and change course, detect and move objects, and simulate everyday devices such as vending machines, passenger elevator systems, and traffic-control lights. In early 2010, Fischertechnik introduced the ROBO TX Explorer kit, which includes a color sensor. https://www.fischertechnik.de/en/service/elearning/playing/txt-explorer


Sets

Fischertechnik has produced myriad different sets over the years, and the company has several times renamed existing sets. Moreover, there have been as many as five different lines of these sets (often referred to as "A", "B", "C", "D", and "E" in fan circles) with similar but differing components (all compatible, of course). Roughly these fit into the production years 1967–1971, 1972–1975, 1976–1981, 1981–1984 and 1984–1991. The A line featured predominantly black-and-white images, whereas the "B" line features the "Oscar DuJouet 1970" award on the box design. "C" saw the introduction of black plastic cogs (earlier they were all red), and "D" saw the introduction of yellow plastic "statics" (whereas before they were grey). The following equivalencies can help make sense of some of the core sets: * Start 300 = Start 200 + 50/3 = Start 100 + 50/2 + 50/3 = Start 50 + 50/1 + 50/2 + 50/3 * Hobby 1 = UT1 = selected parts from Start 300 (but significantly abbreviated) * Hobby 2 = UT2 = Mot1 + Mot2 + Mot3 (The Hobby 2 / UT2 lacks the battery box that comes with Mot1.) * Hobby 3 = UT3 = EM1 + EM2 + EM3 (The "EM" stands for "Electro-Mechanical".) * Hobby 4 = UT4 = EC1 + EC2 + EC3 (The "EC" stands for "Electronic".) * Hobby S = Start 50S + 50S/1 + 50S/2 + 50S/3 (Note that those are "S" = "structural", not a "5".) Note that prior to the Fischertechnik "C" line (1976?), the starter sets didn't have as many parts, and neither did their add-on kits (50/1, 50/2, 50/3). Because the older manuals lack copyright dates or official line designations, it is difficult to distinguish sets without in-depth knowledge of what was actually in the box for each line and set. More recently, Fischertechnik has started producing a whole line of kits specialized for the construction of particular models, like boats, airplanes, bridges, cranes, etc. This is something of a departure from their traditional niche producing generic sets from which (literally) hundreds of different models can be built. Fischertechnik has also started producing advanced robotic sets, including battery packs, remote controls, and programmable control boards.


See also

*
Lego Technic Lego Technic is a line of Lego interconnecting plastic rods and parts. The purpose of this series is to create more advanced models with more complex technical functions, compared to the simpler brick A brick is a type of block used to b ...
*
NORBIT In electronics, the NORBIT family of modules is a very early form (since 1960) of digital logic developed by Philips (and also provided through and Mullard) that uses modules containing discrete components to build logic function blocks in re ...


References


External links


Fischertechnik official website
{{in lang, en Companies based in Baden-Württemberg Toy companies of Germany Educational toys Construction toys Robotics companies of Germany Manufacturing companies established in 1966 German brands Toy companies established in 1966 German companies established in 1966