Robie (81-012 & 81-013)

Pronounced /ˈrōˌbē/ as in a diminutive version of robot.
(Andrew Kay, May 2025, In Person Interview)

81-012

Prototype Image

Robie Prototype Note that the case is white and that the keyboard case looks more like the the other CPM Kaypro keyboards (The top of the case is inset within the base).

Production Images

Thank you Thomas Brase for this image

News (81-012)

"Other new products in the works include a desk-top model, code named "Roby". It will have two disk drives and be similar to the Kaypro II but will have a smaller footprint on the desk and look more like a small TV set." Note that Roby is how it was spelled in the article.
(CommuniKay, June 1983)

Kaypro Corporation is unveiling a new desktop microcomputer, the Robie, this week at COMDEX in Las Vegas. The 24-pound machine is targeted at companies that need a "dedicated workstation," says David Kay, vice-president of marketing.

"It is an unusual computer, very different than anything else out on the market," says Kay. "It has a unique design." As homage to its "unique design," Kaypro has decided to use its original code name for the new portable. "Some people thought it looked like a robot in the early prototype stages," Kay says.

The Robie is similar to the company's Kaypro 4, but is much smaller and includes a built-in modem, real-time clock/calendar and fan. It promises to have one of the smallest footprints of any portable business micrcomputer currently available. Kay says the new machine measures 10 x 10 x 14-inches. (The term footprint refers to the amount of space a machine occupies on a desktop.)

Otherwise the Robie has the same capabilities and specifications as the Kaypro 4. It comes with 64K RAM, a Z80 microprocessor and the CP/M 2.2 operating system. The system houses two 5¼-inch, double-density, double-sided disk drives with 394K formatted storage per diskette (for approximately an 800K capability) and 2K of ROM.

The 9-inch green-phosphor screen displays 24 lines by 80 columns. The Robie's keyboard is detachable. It includes a numeric keypad, 72 keys, 20 programmable keys and programmable cursor keys. The Robie's bundled software will include WordStar, Perfect Writer and a spreadsheet program. Kay says that adding Kaypro's Plus 88 expansion board will make the Robie IBM PC-compatible. Running it with Kaypro's KayLink software will give the machine the ability to communicate with minicomputers and mainframes.

Kaypro is downplaying the Robie's weight and size. In fact, says Kay, the company made a deliberate decision to design a machine that won't fit under an airline seat. Rather, Kaypro sees the Robie primarily being used in the office rather than by traveling executives or salesmen.

"Robie is portable in the same way a [standard size] TV set is portable," Kay says.

"We can't be thought of in a class [with the Model 100]. It hurts the image of Kaypro. We compete head to head with Apple and IBM for the small-business-computer market," continues Kay. "Robie is a dedicated workstation."

Kaypro plans to make approximately 1000 Robies by the end of the year, but a positive response at COMDEX could increase production. Although the exact price hasn't been established, Kay says the Robie will cost under $2000 and will be in the stores by the end of the year.
(Daniel Janal, Unknown source - from news clipping in David Kay's collection.)

Another new product from the Kaypro family of computers has just been unveiled at this year's COMDEX. The Robie is its name, and desktop computing is its game.

The Robie is our smallest model yet, with a footprint measuring slightly over a square foot. It has a nine-inch green monitor with anti-glare screen, two half-height floppy drive which can hold 2.6 megabyte of information each, a slimmed-down detachable keyboard, an internal 300 baud modem, and a real-time clock/calendar. The popular CP/M operating system, with its many applications, runs the unit. The drives use pre-formatted diskettes, which will also be produced by Kaypro.

Robies are being produced in two different colors, white and black, with the distinctive handwritten signature in cherry red. Architect, Janice Kay, is responsible for its modern look which allows it to blend into any office decor.

Prototye Robies were introduced to the rest of the industry at COMDEX in Las Vegas. Vice-president, David Kay, and Promotions Coordinator, Henry Hester, were on hand to announce the new product and demonstrate its features to the press and other industry officials. Advertising material on the new model was also available.

The Robie is still in the prototype phase and remains open to changes. These could include color selection, keyboard design, and other modifications. The first production run is scheduled at 2,000 units; availability to dealers is expected in the spring of '84. The suggested retail price for this new workstation is around $2295.00.

(ComminiKay, Nov/Dec 1983)

81-013

Images

	This is another version of the Robie. The Badging is lower on the case and the drive section is seperated by an recess rather than a narrowing like the other design. They both are featured with the DriveTEC drives.

News (81-013)

NEW ROBIE

The NEW ROBIE is now available for sale. It will still sell at the original price of $2295. The NEW ROBIE is different from the old in four respects:

1) The metal case has been redesigned to look much more pleasing to the eye. It also has a new front bezel around the CRT.

2) The Drivetec drive has been redesigned to solve the problems previously encountered.

3) The diskettes used are new issue. The media in the past had been a major part of the problem.

4) This machine uses the new universal ROM (same one used on the new 2). Master diskettes are not interchangeable between the old Robie and NEW ROBIE.

There is a supply of old style robies still in stock. These should only be used when doing an exchange for an old machine already in the field.

Also, we must assume that all blank Robie diskettes currently in the field are at least suspect. No blank diskettes that anyone currently has in the field should be used in the NEW ROBIES. Have the customer send in his old media and we will replace it free of charge. Remember, using old media in the NEW ROBIE could do damage to the machine itself.

When placing orders for the NEW ROBIE, make sure and state on the order NEW ROBIE.
(Kaypro Dealer Letter, January 1985)

The NEW ROBIE, a desktop computer that features two 2.6 megabytes floppy disk drives is ready for distribution. Innovations incorporated into the machine include a convenient 300 Baud built-in modem as well as as a real time clock/calendar for simple dating of files and documents.

The NEW ROBIE differs from the old model in four respects: 1. The metal case has been re-designed to look much more pleasing to the eye. 2. The drivetec drive has been re-designed to solve the problem previously encountered. 3. The diskettes used are new issue. The media in the past had been a major part of the problem. 4. This computer uses the new universal ROM (same as used on the NEW 2)

Master diskettes are not interchangeable between the old and the new model ROBIE. Remember, using old media in the new ROBIE could do damage to the machine itself. Suggested retail price of the NEW ROBIE is $2,295.00.
(Kugram, Mar-Apr 1985)

"The Robie has two 2.6-megabyte floppy drives for a total of 5.2 MB of disk storage. In addition, this computer has a real-time clock and an internal 300-baud modem.

Software included with the Robie is the same as for the 2X, plus Kaypro's Master Menu program. MasMenu is a menu-driven front end for CP/M that lets you operate the computer without regard to what programs are in which user areas. MasMenu already knows what is in each user area, so all you need to do is select a program from the menu on your screen."
(Profiles, January 1986)

"Kaypro produced less than 500 of the tardy, touchy Robies before taking a staggering $3-million writedown on the machines." (The Executive (Southern California), August 1987, pg 21)

Stories

Here is an excerpt of an anexdotal story from Mark Milliorn about selling a Robie to a customer.

Among other computers, my store sold Kaypro Computers. This was the age of Portable Computers. This meant that for a fairly large sum of money, you could buy a computer with a tiny screen that folded up into a large metal suitcase--a more accurate term for these computers would have been "Luggable Computers". Laptops were not yet available, but every company was working on them. Kaypro, realizing that the market was rapidly changing, decided to eliminate its back stock of old obsolete parts by designing what must have been the worst computer ever made: the Kaypro Robie.

Now, if you are designing a new electric motor, your design does not include a bathtub just because you happen to have one handy--unless, of course, you were Kaypro Computers back then. They must have had warehouses of old, obsolete parts. The Kaypro Robie was horrible—as the sum of its bad parts, it was colossally bad—and Kaypro knew it. The price was low, but dealers were warned that ALL sales were final. The manufacturer would not accept the return of a Robie for any reason. They certainly did not want any of those old obsolete parts back. I took one look at the Robie and refused to sell them.

Maggie had other ideas. She saw one of these monsters advertised in a magazine—they were nicknamed “Darth Vader’s Lunchbox”—and demanded one. (I had never advertised the Robie, since I had refused to sell it in my store.) I tried, really tried, to not sell her one. I explained over and over that the machine was junk, I offered her a great deal on a better computer, I begged her not to buy one….but she insisted. I think she believed that I was trying to either cheat her or keep her from buying her dream computer. Finally, forced by my dealership agreement with Kaypro, I had to sell her the computer. I wrote Maggie a registered letter explaining my reservations and spelling out exactly the terms of the sale—that the computer was non-returnable and she would have to pay for it in advance. Maggie promptly paid and I ordered the monstrosity.

It took Maggie less than a week to discover the machine was junk. Maggie is crazy, but she ain’t stupid. And of course she wanted to return the machine! While I was sympathetic, there was nothing I could do: Kaypro wouldn’t take it back, and I couldn’t and I wouldn't sell it to someone else. Maggie yelled, then cried, and then screamed threats as she left my store. I have to admit that the thought of losing Maggie Magpie as a customer was the only bright part of the sale. (Besides the small profit, that is.)
For the full posting see:They Shoot Magpies

From an archive of the old-computers.com that appears to no longer exist:

Michael Robinson reports:
I worked at Kaypro at the time. The big shortcoming of the Robie was the too-advanced (at the time) high-density drives. The drives would literally eat through very expensive pre-formatted proprietary floppy disks. After a long enough time in the drive, you could hold a floppy up to the light, and see through the directory track where the drive heads had scraped all the oxide off the mylar substrate. Eventually, this was tracked down to a manufacturing defect that left diamond dust on the heads during the polishing step, but by then the Robie was more or less doomed.
The industrial design on the Robie was done by Janice Kay (one of the Kay clan), the architect (of sorts) who also designed the Kaypro lobby.

Dave Domanski adds:
Robie was definitely commercially available. I had it for sale in my computer store (Matrix Computers in Dearborn, Michiga) in the early 80s, seems to me it was prior to 1984 but perhaps that is about right.
An ill-advised attempt by Non-Linear Systems (nee Kaypro) to broaden into the desktop market, Robie was the only not-specifically-portable Kaypro, but like the others it ran CP/M on a Z80 family processor. This was, of course, at a time when IBM's PC and MS-DOS were steadily crushing all else before them.
As you can tell from the picture it shared a lot of hardware with its "sewing machine case" Kaypro siblings. If I recall correctly it had a whopping 5 MB hard disk. I do remember that it was jet black, unlike your photo. It never sold well anywhere near as well as the portable Kaypros, I think mostly due to its freakish appearance.

Allen Cobb's memories:
I remember the Robie from a shop I worked at (WordMovers - Lawndale, Ca) while in school. Time frame was right about 1984, it had two high density 5.25 inch drives - I believe somewhere in the vicinity of 2 megs per drive w/ specially formatted floppies (supposedly available from your KayPro dealer). From what I remember, the Robie did not sell well at all (I never saw one move from the store that sold a high volume of Kaypro products). The only sound was a beep emanating from the keyboard. The Robie made a great paperweight.
www.old-computers.com archived

Special Notes

As far as I can tell a Robie has not been sold on eBay in the last 10+ years.

See Drivetec Drives for more information on the drives