Let me tell you, this machine is considerably more complicated than you'd think, but it's back together and working better. Miraculously, this is the first time I've ever taken this thing apart. I would often take my toys apart for no good reason, and had varying degrees of failure and success in reassembly. I can guarantee that my younger self would not have had the degree of mechanical wherewithal required to get this thing put back together. It's easier than rebuilding a car engine, though!
While the Armatron seemed like a fairly useless device to many, the way it worked fascinated me quite a bit, and fostered my interest in mechanical things, robots, and remote control. My dad asked me if I can program it. I told him I could make it programmable. I wonder how hard it would be to make this work with a microcontroller?