25 Jul 2014

Packaging

I've spent most of this week developing the way in which Mirobot gets shipped to its users. After shipping out 25 of the Beta units to the relevant Kickstarter backers I wasn't really satisfied with how it was packaged. It was error prone, with lots of pieces to pick and make sure are in every box. One of the pieces even arrived broken (which was probably by me as I closed up the lid). It all just felt a bit thrown in a box (well it was I guess!).

Kickstarter

I had been playing around with the idea of cutting the parts out of a number of panels of MDF in a way that left them slightly attached to the surroun ...

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20 May 2014

5 things I've learned from Kickstarter

It's been a fascinating few weeks after launching Mirobot on Kickstarter. It's an amazing way of getting a project off the ground and I've had a very positive experience so far. I've been genuinely touched by the belief and generosity my backers have shown. I thought a post on my learnings might help others on their own kickstarting journey because it's a very worthwhile experience so long as you do things properly.

Kickstarter

1. Network

It's pretty well known that the success of a Kickstarter project depends largely on the number of eyes you can get on the project page. This is classic SEO conversion optimi ...

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29 Apr 2014

Raspberry Pi, Scratch and Mirobot

One of the things that people asked me during the fantastic Maker Faire UK last weekend was whether Mirobot would work with Scratch and the Raspberry Pi. This is hugely appealing for many reasons, but one that particularly appeals to me is the similarity to the early days of computing in schools. I've always said that one of the big influences for Mirobot was the BBC Turtle, which worked with the BBC Micro computer.

Old and new

Educational robotics, old and new

There's something really nice about using the modern equivalents to update robotics in schools for the 21st century and using the Raspberry Pi, Mirobot ...

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03 Apr 2014

An Update

I've not blogged here for a little while, primarily because I've had my head down preparing to launch Mirobot on Kickstarter. However, I've still made some good progress in a few areas that I thought it would be worth updating on.

I've been experimenting with different chassis materials and have found some nice melamine faced MDF that I think looks good. The black edges contrast really well. It required a bit of cleaning but I'm hoping that I can tweak the laser cutting process to reduce this. It's fine for small volumes, but if the Kickstarter is successful then I'll need to make sure this proc ...

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