We like making animal robot companions, and want to help people do that!

Have questions? EXCELLENT. Click anywhere and type.

I want to make a robot!

Robots ore awesome

Want to contribute? Here’s how!

I want a critter friend

I have social anxiety and I want people to talk to my birb first

I have a great idea but I feel like I can’t

Sometimes we want to do things we don’t know how to do. That’s a great way to learn!

I don’t need a reason!

I don’t know how to...

Add sketches, in-process photos, notes an your companion robot

Drop links to useful resources, tutorials, examples, tools, whatever

I don’t know where to start

Share the URL of this page with people who might be interested

It can be scary, when you’ve never done something before, but we can help you get started!

Add questions you don’t see

Contribute answers to questions!

solder or do electronics stuff

That’s okay, you can learn!

Sketching ideas is a great way to explore them, and here’s a nice howto for beginners: https://www.instructables.com/How-to-Draw-For-Makers/

I’ve never done this before

The first time I build something I need a recipe or guide

Learn to program with Python! This book really helped me. https://automatetheboringstuff.com/

I like to see examples of other people’s work

Draw a sketch of the idea

Examples Of Companion Robots

I have too many ideas

Ways to get started!

Me, too. Below is a method for working through that!

get all your ideas out in front of you

Jot down a quick outline of the experience you want to create

Archimedes The Owl

@barbmakesthings

put on my shoulder for going out

Here’s all the ideas Fae had about a crow robot, in the order they came

Nixie the Octopus

Alex Glow / @glowascii

Sort the ideas by whatever grouping makes sense to you

You can use anything for this: sticky notes, index cards, an outline in google docs

lives in my room, says good morning

lives on my workbench

(Kinopio.club is a great tool for this)

linked to a bunny robot in my girlfriend’s house

Here I’ve sorted the ideas into the BEHAVIOR I want, the SENSORS it might use, and WHERE or HOW it would fit into my life

The important thing is to just bang out whatever comes to mind in any order.

streams the sleepy noises my girlfriend makes

speaker & microphone

You will edit later. Promise.

linked to a smart speaker at my girlfriend’s house

put on my shoulder for going out

learns who my friends are

learns who my friends are

bluetooth sniffing?

speaker & microphone

linked to a bunny robot at my girlfriend’s house

does cute crow stuff

I took this concept model and developed it in

Please add your own!

does cute crow stuff

If you could only make your robot do ONE thing, what would it be?

It’s often easier to do one or more of the some kinds of behavior: for example, making a robot move two different ways is easier than moving AND making sound

How do you make pigs fly? With LEGO

Excellent mockup skills

If you’re just starting out, LEDs and motion are great places to start

Designing wings that won’t put your eye out?

Robots that sit on your shoulder are surprisingly dangerous when you turn your head

Is there anything listed here you don’t know how to do?

A project with one thing you don’t know how to do yet is a great way ta learn!

Remember that each thing you don’t know how to do yet is going to have some interesting surprises for you.

If this is your first robotics project, start simple

Comments & Feedback

Can he sit on my shoulder?

you’d have to have a big shoulder cuz he’s like 12 year old boy sized/shaped

this space is A M A Z I N G