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What makes the interactive toys tick? That is top-secret information these days. Manufacturers have shrouded their new toys in a haze of high-tech mystery, partly to preserve the sense of wonder about the devices, but also to prevent rivals from making knockoffs. While the technology is nothing that will tip the balance between superpowers, each toy company has developed a creative scheme for linking the toys with TV shows via light beams or audio signals.

Toy-industry experts believe that Mattel's Captain Power toys are based on optical technology. The Captain Power show is apparently programmed with light patterns that can be received and decoded by the hand-held PowerJet and related toys. In a typical battle, villains on the TV show hurl fireballs and other menacing projectiles toward the screen, which signals youngsters and their weapons that it is time to fire back. When the child pulls the trigger promptly, the hand-held toy detects the successful hit and racks up points on a scoreboard that is displayed on the toy. If a player fails to blast the enemy, his toy may take enemy hits and suffer imaginative damage effects. Example: When a PowerJet "blows up," it ejects its pilot onto the floor.

While Axlon is tight-lipped about its Tech Force robots, executives confirm that the toys are controlled by audio signals. Michael Hatcher, Axlon's senior product manager, imitates the sound by muttering a low-pitched beeping noise. The Tech Force robots will carry microprocessors that decode the signals from the sound track of the Tech Force cartoon program. Those beeps -- signifying such commands as forward, reverse, right and left -- will send the robots wheeling across the living-room floor. At the same time, children can control other robots by sending out audio commands from a small keyboard. That way youngsters can stage battles between the robots they control and the ones commanded by the TV program.

Experts say the optical and audio signals are unlikely to cause any havoc with other electronic gear, automatic garage doors or pets with sensitive hearing. Though the technology is now being pitched to children, it could eventually lead to some interesting possibilities for grownups. Saving the universe is one thing, but how about being able to take a potshot at J.R. Ewing on Dallas?