I, ROBOT - Atari Arcade Machine

3D Model

Developed and released by Atari in 1984, a blurb from the game’s own demo screens declare “I, ROBOT” to be the first videogame with real time computer generated, mathematically perfect, solid 3 dimensional graphics and no hidden surfaces. Designed by Tempest creator Dave Theurer, “I, ROBOT” has the player jumping across 3D polygonal environments using a semi-automatic camera view that can be adjusted by players in-game. There is also a drawing mode called “Doodle City” where players can use the game’s 3D objects to draw on the screen. A very rare machine today as only 1,000 units were ever produced.

The 3D graphics hardware consisted of 4 AMD 2901 4-bit slice programmable ALU chips, reportedly capable of rendering around 2000 polygons per second, delivering between 12 and 20 FPS in-game.

Special thanks to “Classic Arcade Cabinets” for providing a cabinet reference and control panel scan.