Robotron Pty. Ltd. is an Australian research & development and manufacturing company of various specialty high-technology equipment. The company was founded in 1983 by Czech-born engineer Milan Hudecek. Its products include assistive technology equipment for the blind, such as reading machines, navigational and word-processing tools.
Hudecek's inspirational meetings with executives of various blind support and consumer organizations, discussing development of the Robotron equipment, for example, the Eureka A4 computers are described in various sources such as The Braille Monitor. The company also pioneered the development of
speech synthesis
Speech synthesis is the artificial production of human speech. A computer system used for this purpose is called a speech synthesizer, and can be implemented in software or hardware products. A text-to-speech (TTS) system converts normal langua ...
products for non-European languages, for example
Thai language
Thai,In or Central Thai (historically Siamese;Although "Thai" and "Central Thai" have become more common, the older term, "Siamese", is still used by linguists, especially when it is being distinguished from other Tai languages (Diller 2008:6 ...
'Aria' computer.
The Robotron Rainbow and TR320 are reading machines for the blind.
In 1989, the company won the Australian Export Award.
In 1990, the company was awarded the annual Canadian ''Winston Gordon Award of Excellence in Accessible Technology'' in the field of
blindness and visual impairment for their Eureka A4 device. The award "recognizes an individual or group who has made significant technological advances benefiting people with sight loss." The Eureka A4 attached to an early 1990s PC "to utilise screen orientated programs. It had sockets for telephone lines, a Braille keyboard, an inbuilt disk drive, speed and volume controls as well as outlets for data ports and headphones."
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris (; Judkins; born May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American and Ghanaian singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th c ...
and
Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential musicians in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Gen ...
both used Robotron equipment.
In 1991 the company founded a subsidiary called Rosetta Laboratories Pty. Ltd. (later renamed to Radixon Group Pty. Ltd.) to concentrate on development and marketing of specialty PC peripherals. One of its first products was the
WiNRADiO PC card which provided the initial impetus for the development of the entire
WiNRADiO range of PC-based
radio receiver
In radio communications, a radio receiver, also known as a receiver, a wireless, or simply a radio, is an electronic device that receives radio waves and converts the information carried by them to a usable form. It is used with an antenna. ...
s and accessories.
References
External links
Robotron radio technology websiteRobotron assistive technology website
Electronics companies of Australia
Assistive technology
Australian companies established in 1983
Technology companies established in 1983