Robotron Kc 87
Robotron was the East German state computer manufacturer. By the time the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, it employed 68,000 people and was churning out communist computers from its headquarters in Dresden for much of the eastern bloc and for export around the world (via ESER), branded with this fantastic retro-futurist logo:
The Robotron KC 87 is a 8-bit computer from East Germany released in 1987. The KC in the name stands for German word Kleincomputer on English Small Computer. The KC 87 used an U880 microprocessor, a clone of the Zilog Z80 clocked at 2.5 MHz, 16 KB of RAM memory, 16 KB ROM and running KC-BASIC. And the hi-tech Robotron KC-87: The company also made calculators, typewriters, disk drives, printers and other electronic equipment. After German reunification in 1990, the Robotron group was split into pieces and sold off, and the company’s communist-era equipment is mainly kept alive by groups of hobbyists and enthusiasts.
Robotron’s product range included personal computers like the sludge-coloured K 8915:
And the hi-tech Robotron KC-87:
The company also made calculators, typewriters, disk drives, printers and other electronic equipment.
Robotron Kc 87 Spiele
After German reunification in 1990, the Robotron group was split into pieces and sold off, and the company’s communist-era equipment is mainly kept alive by groups of hobbyists and enthusiasts. Today, the successor company is a comparatively small data-management software business, still based in Dresden.
In May 1986, the Robotron factory in Sömmerda was visited by East German head of state Erich Honecker, and the company produced a promotional documentary around the event, Besuch in Sömmerda (A Visit to Sömmerda), which revelled in soft pro-government propaganda and awesome mid-80s saxophone:
The company seems to have had an appetite for promotional trinkets, including ashtrays, medallions, stamps, calendars, and more. Most curious of these, perhaps, is a schnapps glass with the Robotron logo on it, accompanied by an illustration that looks like a slightly complex take on the Reddit alien:
Robotron Kc 87 Super
So, did today’s link-aggregating web behemoth get their logo from a computer company from behind the iron curtain?