A student in WRT105 emailed me this
link overnight. MB’s Big Trak was one of my first electronic toys.  I
couldn’t come up with the name of it when I was conferencing with the student
the other day.  He’s working out a project that makes use of the
cut-paste/remix/playback method;
focusing on 1982, he’s
looking at "Mr. Roboto," the computer as Time’s "man of the
year," and early mechanical heart transplants, and something else.

A
Google
search for Big Trak turns up a bunch of late
70’s/early 80’s reminiscence.  Must’ve been for my sixth or seventh
birthday, but I remember programming
the rover to roll around our small trailer-house on Winn Road. We had the
dump-cart, too, and although it was disappointing (dump what?  where?), we
retro-fitted it with a cheap cup holder console (the sort with sand-weighted
flaps), so the Big Trak could haul drinks from the kitchen to the living room
fewer than ten feet away.  And even though the path was potentially
straight, programming a crooked course was all the fun. 

I vaguely recollect the Big Trak was sore subject between my folks,
too.  M. refused to tell D. how much she paid for it; she just insisted–as
often was the case–that J. and I must have the latest gadgets, whatever the
cost. Other memories: the batteries required replacement too frequently, and
batteries were expensive.  Wasn’t long before my older brother J. had the
whole guts opened up, never to go together again.