Remote control units for mechanized toys

A remote control unit configured to be hand carried and to remotely control a mechanized toy with wireless signal receiver, the remote control unit comprising:

• a housing externally configured as an other mechanical toy so as to support user play activity without the mechanized toy, the housing further including a main housing portion and at least a first elongated handle extending longitudinally outwardly and away from the main housing portion, the other toy and the housing having a front side to face away from a user holding the remote control unit by all elongated handles provided on the main housing portion, a rear side to face away from the front side and towards the user holding the handles, a bottom side between the front and rear sides to face downward and a top side between the front and rear sides to face upward and away from the bottom side, a central vertical plane extended though the front, rear, top and bottom sides dividing the unit and the housing into two substantially equal halves;
• circuitry in the housing including a wireless signal transmitter and a controller operably connected to the wireless signal transmitter and configured to generate and transmit control signals to the mechanized toy in response to inputs from a user holding and operating the remote control unit;
• and
• at least a first tilt sensor located in the housing connected in a subcircuit with the controller, the first tilt sensor including an elongated ball tube with a central longitudinal axis and a ball having a diameter less than an inner diameter of the ball tube to permit the ball to roll along the tube between opposing ends of the ball tube so as to make or break the subcircuit, the central longitudinal axis of each ball tube being pitched at an acute angle having a magnitude of at least twenty degrees with respect to a horizontal plane perpendicular to the central vertical plane and tangent to the bottom side of the main housing portion to provide a dead zone of the tilt sensor equal to or greater than the magnitude of the acute angle.