[jimtranr]

"Roberts" is the brand name of Akai R2R tape recorders that were distributed to the U.S. in the '60s and '70s. A number of my Turner Joy shipmates brought PX-purchased "Roberts" decks home--along with a slew of Sony 500s--from our 1964 WestPac deployment.

Depending on condition, cleanup and restoration (and assuming you can find appropriate tape heads if your Roberts needs them) by someone knowledgeable is likely to be costly. If you're into the routine of maintaining an R2R deck (regular head cleaning at a minimum) and can find tapes of music you like, it might be worthwhile. Note, however, that you may have to deal with "sticky shed syndrome", or the deterioration of tape binders and/or back coatings on vintage-era tapes that leaves yucky deposits on the tape heads.