Tokico ARMSTAR Painting Robot

The Tokico ARMSTAR Painting Robot was developed by Tokico Ltd., a Japanese engineering company specializing in hydraulics, automotive systems, and automation. It was presented as the main attraction of the Japan Pavilion at the 1982 World’s Fair in Knoxville, Tennessee. That year’s exposition, themed “Energy Turns the World”, drew over eleven million visitors and emphasized science and technology as cultural forces. In this setting ARMSTAR embodied Japan’s position at the forefront of industrial robotics, with pavilion guides noting that more than 100,000 robots were already in service in Japan by 1982.

ARMSTAR was a six-axis servo-controlled manipulator adapted from Tokico’s spray-painting systems. Instead of coating cars or appliances, it performed calligraphy and brush drawing with a traditional bamboo brush, dipping into ink and producing one of six pre-programmed designs chosen from its control panel. Among these were the Kanji “日本” (Japan), the Knoxville Sunsphere logo, and the Crescent Moon Face. Each drawing was handed through a slot to visitors waiting in line. ARMSTAR’s design addressed the challenges of paint environments. Its elbow joint enclosed the drive motor and reduction gear within the arm, reducing wear and protecting moving parts, while sealed feed-throughs shielded its cables from dust and solvents. With six degrees of freedom, the robot was capable of smooth, repeatable motion, translating industrial servo precision into expressive brush strokes. At Knoxville, ARMSTAR was presented as both an entertainment feature and a demonstration of Japan’s leadership in robotics.