Published on July 15, 2017
This battery powered toy has an ingenious but simple mechanism for reversing direction when it hits an obstacle. Initially it drives up the obstacle until it tips backwards. It keeps going and repeats the process. The second time it tumbles backwards, a little lever hits the ground, and causes the toy to reverse direction. If it then encounters an obstacle when going the other way, it repeats the process.
Did the makers dream that in 30 years time there would be a real life Mars Explorer trundling around the surface of the red planet, sending back all sorts of data and pictures!
