PAPER ROBOTS
RS Components & Independent Explorations
This series of paper robots began as an exploration of how to create low-cost, simple robots for educational purposes. It ultimately evolved into an exploration of how technology, character design, and storytelling interact to create playful, interactive experiences.
Research
Research involved interviewing the creator of 3D printed companion robots to understand his process and how children responded to his creations, exploring and trying out other paper-based electronics projects (such as Google Paper Signals), and an ongoing process of learning from teachers of what made for a strong classroom project.
Ideation
I brainstormed through sketching to explore physical-digital interactions, character design, and paper-based mechanisms.
Prototyping & Testing
From brainstorming, I jumped into hands-on prototyping, experimenting with a variety of interactions, narratives, character designs, mechanism designs, and materials—and how these all played off each other to transform a handful of paper and electronics into a playful interactive character. An important design constraint I refined through prototyping was ensuring that the designs were simple enough to be made by children from age 10.
Testing
I had the opportunity to test the designs remotely during COVID through a dedicated online community of teachers and makers on social media. By providing open-source step-by-step instructions such as those below, educators were able to try the designs with their students and provided valuable feedback to iterate and improve upon the concept. Additionally, I facilitated online workshops that allowed me to test directly with users.
Scaling
In addition to providing free templates and step-by-step instructions online, some of the robots were also commercialized into a kit distributed by RS Components.
Response
The paper robots went viral on social media, eventually racking up over 700,000 views. Teachers and students from around the world have built the Ticklebot and other paper robots, remixing the concept with their own personal twist, and helping constantly improve the designs by providing valuable feedback.