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Toys, Warfare and Technology, What's the link?

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Toys, Warfare and Technology, What’s the link?
Consider this, a toy which could be gifted to your son (or daughter) this Christmas, played a key role in the development of warfare.

You've seen the advert’s, ‘This year’s fastest, most advanced RC car, now from only £19.99 at toys R us!’ however we both know that thanks to the development of technology, and mass consumerism we can be ripped of year by year by toy companies, each RC car has components manufactured in their millions by companies in China. Before this however, there was a more interesting side to the components.

Now yes, I know it may seem silly. How could a Remote Controlled car be so important to warfare? Did the Nazi’s whiz bombs across no man’s land on the back of a supped up 1:18 scale model Audi TT? Unfortunately not, however similar devices were used throughout warfare, and still are to this day.

The questions are where did all of this start? Why is military grade equipment

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now used in what is essentially an unnecessary toy for children? Well, Luckily I’m here to quench your thirst for more knowledge about the Background of RC cars.

So, here’s my breakdown of a typical Remote Controlled car. One single chassis, vacuum formed. One motherboard, controlling the operation, One remote control unit (2.4 GHz – I’ll explain later) and Two, yes, two motor units! Don’t get me wrong, there are some seriously good RC cars out there on the market, but for this article, I’ll be explaining the significance of the lower end of the market.

These components all make up the inner workings of an RC car. One thing we can all agree on is that the remotes suck. Well they do! The range is short, and really, the controls are weak and thanks to those annoying antennas we can only stand a maximum of 3 metres away from the toy before it stops responding. This doesn’t stop the little ones, and even some of the older ones, really having fun though!

However, this tricky little component has a history to be proud of. This history, has affected every human being both for better and sometimes for worse. Who would have 
thought, that technology used in warfare, would eventually end up as an almost every day object, and used in a children’s toy!
Firstly we need to take a trip down memory lane. 
Firstly we must travel a long way back, further than you would expect. This all begins in the late 1800’s, around 1898 to be exact.
Nicholas Tesla, famous for his Tesla coil mainly, came to design the Radio Transmitter, which would have been completed a few years earlier if it wasn't for a fire in his original workshop. Can you imagine that? Over a Century ago, the first Radio Transmitter was created. Mad stuff.

Tesla used this In 1898 at an exhibition at Madison Square Garden Nikola Tesla demonstrated a small boat which could apparently obey commands from the audience but was in fact controlled by Tesla interpreting the verbal requests and sending appropriate frequencies to tuned circuits in the boat. (Sarker, 2006)

Hence the RC Toy was born! Well, sort of.

As our time line advances we move onto some seriously cool applications of Tesla’s Design. In the 1920s, various radio-controlled ships were used for naval artillery target practice. In 1922, the obsolete, US Navy battleship USS Iowa became the first of these target ships! (US navy ships, Battleship NO.4, 2003)However before this in World War One, the first military use of the Remote Control, well some variation of the Remote Control. The Germans used the Remote control in their warfare to carry explosives into British Allies frontlines, thus reducing the number of casualties. 
Weapons such as the FL-7 Remote Controlled Boat created and used in 1916, the Sopwith AT ‘Ariel Torpedo’ and the Wickersham land Torpedo were all used throughout World War one.

As warfare advance, so did the use of the Remote Control. As World War Two started in 1939, the need for better weaponry 
became apparent; luckily this also meant that more money was being spent in developing the very basic Remote Control.

Actor and World War one Hero Reginald Deny opened a hobby shop in the 1930’s, which led to the creation of the OQ-2 Radioplane aka ‘Denymite’ one of the first Radio Controlled planes used in warfare.

This led onto more advanced weaponry such as the Fritz X guided bomb used in 1939, the Goliath Remote Controlled Tank Buster in 1940, and finally the Norden Bomb Sight which was developed through 1932 and onwards. (P.W.singer, 2009)

With no surprise this technology mostly failed, especially on the side of the allied troops. However this was to be expected, the technology was new, and only tested minimally. Don’t fret however, there’s more!

The war brought along a new era of Toys, Fun and games! The 1940’s and the end of the Second World War brought the commercialisation of the Remote Controlled toy. One example of such a toy was the Berkeley Super Aerotrol. This fantastic remote controlled plane boasted a 27.5 GHz Remote Control!
I’m not quite sure what this means either, but what I do know is that it was the first commercialised Remote Control Toy.

The 1950’s also increased the rate at which the Remote Control Transmitter Developed. During this time Remote Controls developed from simple, wired mechanisms to more advanced single channel self-built ones, with a longer range, and smaller components.

As our timeline continues to run through into the 1960’s we come across the ‘kicking duck’/ ‘galloping ghost’ (Radio control model, 2008)this was seen as a revolutionary use of a Remote Control Transmitter. This was also developed into what was known as ‘space control’, no, it didn’t actually have anything to do with the space race! “Space Control is a new Quadruple Simultaneous Proportional control recently introduced by Solidtronics Division of Electrosolids Corp. of Van Nuys, California.” (Flying Models, 1961)What did this mean for Remote Control Transmitters and Receivers I hear you ask! 
Well, basically the circuit, designed by Hershel Toomim, is a form of mulit-plax which, in effect, allows the transmission of four commands simultaneously without interaction or interference to one another. (RC hall of Fame, 2008) This was revolutionary. 

It meant that not only was the Radio Transmitter capable of sending multiple signals, it also meant that controls could be used in many other purposes such as a Television Remote. Could you imagine a world where we had to actually flick through hundreds of channels from the actual TV set? Well thanks to Zel Ritchie we can be content in using our remotes!
Our time line progresses further, into the 1970’s. Throughout this era, technology advances exponentially. Integrated Circuits meant that Radio Control was cheap, small and light enough for Multi-Channel fully proportional control. Yes, I don’t fully understand that either. So I’ll have a go at explaining. Basically this meant that devices such as commercial RC Cars could have two separate tasks applied at 
once, for example changing direction and increasing or decreasing speed.

The 1970’s brought an era of exciting new uses of the Remote Control. Not only was this used commercially in some rather sketchy and kitsch Remote Controlled toys, but also in everyday items which made life for the average person a lot easier. Things like garage doors could be opened using a remote control, televisions; modern weapons became advanced so missiles were able to be directed from extreme distances.
This was all very exciting, people were celebrating technology, and it was advancing quickly. An industrial age was born and with this industrial age came the slow development of commercial products. For long into the 1990’s software advances and hardware advance meant that we could produce smaller and smaller components.
The toy market was booming, a throw away culture was born, and miniaturization because a 
heavy feature in design, including the design of Remote Control units.

Miniaturization is an exciting stage in our time line of Remote Control history. The actual toys themselves were not miniaturized in any way at all. 

However certain components were, this allowed designers to add more to the aesthetics of an RC car, and think less about spacing for transmitters.

Thus meant that advertising started to target teenagers, younger kids and with the development of the remote control, these children were able to flick through many channels to find which Remote Controlled car they wanted to purchase!
Finally we finish our journey through time back in the present day, the twenty first Century. 

The Remote Control has shaped our lives. Created easy solutions to long ongoing problems, has caused destruction in warfare and has allowed the toy industry to sky rocket into a new sector. The question is, where will Remote Controls take us? Will we eventually be able to control people? 
Only time will tell. 
Works Cited
Flying Models. (1961, january -). 
Space Control. Product Review Of Space Control. New york
.
P.W.singer. (2009). 
Wired for war: The robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century. -: -.
Radio control model. (2008, december -).
Retrieved november 27, 2014, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio-controlled_model

RC hall of Fame. (2008, - -). 
Space Control. Retrieved november 27, 2014, from RCH Hall Of Fame: http://www.rchalloffame.org/Manufacturer/SpaceControl/history/index.html

Sarker, T. K. (2006). History of wireless. -: 
John wiley and Sons.

US navy ships, Battleship NO.4. (2003, april 13).
 Retrieved november 27, 2014, from Naval Historical Centre: http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-i/bb4-t.htm