Robotron
Encyclopedia
Volkseigener Betrieb
The Volkseigener Betrieb was the legal form of industrial enterprise in East Germany...
Kombinat
Combine (enterprise)
Combine has several related meanings:* A big industrial enterprise that combines several different enterprises that are related to each other by a technological process or through an administration....
Robotron was the biggest East German electronics manufacturer. It was based in Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
and employed 68,000 people (1989). It produced personal computer
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
s, SM EVM
SM EVM
SM EVM was the general name for several types of Soviet and Comecon minicomputers produced in the 1970s and 1980s. Production began in 1975....
minicomputer
Minicomputer
A minicomputer is a class of multi-user computers that lies in the middle range of the computing spectrum, in between the largest multi-user systems and the smallest single-user systems...
s, the ESER
ESER
ESER is an abbreviation for Einheitliches System Elektronischer Rechenmaschinen , a term used in the GDR for ES EVM computers produced according to a treaty between the members of Comecon signed on December 23, 1968 covering the development of a standardized computing system.ESER was also the name...
mainframe computer
Mainframe computer
Mainframes are powerful computers used primarily by corporate and governmental organizations for critical applications, bulk data processing such as census, industry and consumer statistics, enterprise resource planning, and financial transaction processing.The term originally referred to the...
s, several computer peripherals as well as home computers, radios and television sets.
Robotron managed several different divisions:
- VEB Robotron-Elektronik Dresden (headquarters) — typewriters, personal computers, minicomputers, mainframes
- VEB Robotron-Meßelektronik Dresden — measurement and testing devices, home computers
- VEB Robotron-Projekt Dresden — software department
- VEB Robotron-Buchungsmaschinenwerk Karl-Marx-StadtChemnitzChemnitz is the third-largest city of the Free State of Saxony, Germany. Chemnitz is an independent city which is not part of any county and seat of the government region Direktionsbezirk Chemnitz. Located in the northern foothills of the Ore Mountains, it is a part of the Saxon triangle...
— personal computers, floppy disk drivesFloppy diskA floppy disk is a disk storage medium composed of a disk of thin and flexible magnetic storage medium, sealed in a rectangular plastic carrier lined with fabric that removes dust particles... - VEB Robotron-Elektronik HoyerswerdaHoyerswerdaHoyerswerda is the largest city in the district of Bautzen in the German state of Saxony. It is located in Lusatia, a region where many people speak the Sorbian languages in addition to German.-Geography:...
— monitors, power supply unitPower supply unit (computer)A power supply unit converts mains AC to low-voltage regulated DC power for the internal components of the computer. Modern personal computers universally use a switched-mode power supply...
s - VEB Robotron-Elektronik RadebergRadebergRadeberg is a small town located approximately 20 kilometres north-east of Dresden in Saxony, Germany. The company Elektronik Radeberg GmbH, formerly well known in East Germany for the production of portable television sets, is located there....
— radio receivers, portable television receivers - VEB Robotron Vertrieb Dresden, BerlinBerlinBerlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
and ErfurtErfurtErfurt is the capital city of Thuringia and the main city nearest to the geographical centre of Germany, located 100 km SW of Leipzig, 150 km N of Nuremberg and 180 km SE of Hannover. Erfurt Airport can be reached by plane via Munich. It lies in the southern part of the Thuringian...
— sales departments - VEB Robotron-Elektronik Zella-MehlisZella-MehlisZella-Mehlis is a town in the Schmalkalden-Meiningen district, in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated in the Thuringian Forest, 5 km north of Suhl, and 20 km east of Meiningen. The town of Zella-Mehlis is the site of the original Walther arms weapons factory. It remained there until the...
— computer terminalComputer terminalA computer terminal is an electronic or electromechanical hardware device that is used for entering data into, and displaying data from, a computer or a computing system...
s, hard disk drives - VEB Robotron-Büromaschinenwerk SömmerdaSömmerdaSömmerda is a town near Erfurt in Thuringia, Germany, on the Unstrut river. It is the capital of the district of Sömmerda.-History:Archeological digs in the area that is now Sömmerda, formerly Leubingen, have uncovered prominently buried human remains dating to around 2000 BCE...
— personal computers, printers, electronic calculators (Soemtron 220, 222, 224), invoicing machines (EFA 380), punched card indexers and sorters (Soemtron 432). - VEB Robotron Elektronik RiesaRiesaRiesa is a town in the district of Meißen in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. It is located at the river Elbe, approx. 40 km northwest of Dresden.The world's first 110 kV power line was inaugurated between Riesa and Lauchhammer in 1912....
— printed circuit boardPrinted circuit boardA printed circuit board, or PCB, is used to mechanically support and electrically connect electronic components using conductive pathways, tracks or signal traces etched from copper sheets laminated onto a non-conductive substrate. It is also referred to as printed wiring board or etched wiring...
s
On 30 June 1990 the Kombinat Robotron was liquidated and the divisions were converted into corporations. In the 1990s these companies were sold, e.g., to Siemens Nixdorf, or also liquidated.
The Robotron database software company was newly-founded on 23 August 1990, just before German reunification
German reunification
German reunification was the process in 1990 in which the German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic of Germany , and when Berlin reunited into a single city, as provided by its then Grundgesetz constitution Article 23. The start of this process is commonly referred by Germans as die...
.
Rebranding activities
Robotron printers were sold in Western Germany as "Soemtron" or "Präsident", and the West German branch of CommodoreCommodore International
Commodore is the commonly used name for Commodore Business Machines , the U.S.-based home computer manufacturer and electronics manufacturer headquartered in West Chester, Pennsylvania, which also housed Commodore's corporate parent company, Commodore International Limited...
used some Robotron parts for their printers.
In Eastern Germany the Epson printers were sold under the Robotron brand (but the technical description on the back side was with the "Epson" logo).
Robotron computers
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External links
- Robotron.foerderverein-tsd.de — The History of Robotron narrated by former staff members. German language site.
- Computer-archiv.de — On-line generalised list of computers including Robotron. German language site.
- Robotrontechnik.de — On-line museum of Robotron companies and products. German language site with some English translations.
- Soemtron.org — Technical data for the Soemtron 22x series (220, 222, 224) desktop calculators manufactured by VEB Robotron Büromaschinenwerk Sömmerda.