In 1966, “Robot Sabio Foki el Marciano” was produced by the Establecimiento Metalúrgico Rocha, a metallurgical workshop located in the suburbs of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The factory was active from 1946 until around 1980, producing a vast range of toy home appliances in pressed steel sheet under the brand DAISA. Foki was their first robot, and the first toy of its kind to be designed and manufactured in South America.
Foki was an intelligent alien robot that aimed to educate children by evaluating their knowledge of subjects such as science, history, and geography. The robot was the centerpiece of a quiz board game based on “El Cerebro Mágico” (The Magic Brain) which had been produced in Argentina by Balbachan since 1949.
The game used quiz books with embedded wires, and by touching the probes in Foki’s hands to a question and the corresponding answer, a circuit was completed, lighting up the two lightbulbs (which serve as his eyes) behind the robot’s mask. In fact, the word “Foki” might be a shortened version of “foquito”, the word for flashlight bulbs in Argentina.
South American context
During World War II, commercial traffic disruptions made it impossible to import toys into South American countries from Europe. As a result, the region’s emerging toy industry had to step up to compensate for this shortage. The most prominent local toymakers, who had established their factories during the 1930s and 1940s, increased their production of toys, mainly made of tin, wood, composite materials, and lead.
After the war, Japanese and German toys flooded the South American markets with their competitive prices. In the 1950s, postwar cultural changes introduced science fiction through comics, movies, and toys. The “Space Age” grew strong in children’s imaginations. South American toymakers paid close attention to new market trends, so they began producing toys with a futuristic spirit, influenced by the science fiction that seemed to become reality in the years to come. Most of these toys were based on foreign samples, and very few were of original design.
In a way, this home appliance-looking robot envisioned a future where friendly aliens would make contact, and extraterrestrial artificial intelligence would educate us.
Diego M. Lascano was born in Córdoba, Argentina in 1962 and is a specialist in military history, conflict archaeology, and the history of the toy industry in South America. He is an audiovisual producer, researcher, publisher, and writer who has authored numerous books and articles in Argentina, Chile, France, and Uruguay. He currently resides in Uruguay. You can read more of Diego’s articles about the tin toys of South America on the Jouets Anciens website.
