Elon Musk credits the VIC-20 computer for getting him hooked on programming. The VIC-20 computer inspired greatness in 10-year-old Elon just as the VIC-20 robot will inspire greatness in children.

Excerpt from Ashlee Vance's biography on Elon Musk, recounting his experience when, at 10 years old, he saw the VIC-20 computer for the first time.

Musk said, 'He felt awed right away—'It was like, 'Whoa. Holy shit!''—by this machine that could be programmed to do a person’s bidding. 'I had to have that and then hounded my father to get the computer,' Musk said.

Soon he owned a Commodore VIC-20, a popular home machine that went on sale in 1980. Elon’s computer arrived with 5 kilobytes of memory and a workbook on the BASIC programming language.

'It was supposed to take like 6 months to get through all the lessons,' Elon said. 'I just got super OCD on it and stayed up for 3 days with no sleep and did the entire thing. It seemed like the most super compelling thing I had ever seen.'

"VIC-20 AI toy robot inspiring greatness in children."