Sure, you may know about robots, but do you know about their personal lives? A Missouri couple have taken their hobby of building sculptures of robots and turned it into an online business called Nerdbots. These retro looking robots are cobbled together from old appliances and scrap metal and possess an eerie charm. Nicholas and Angela are selling more than just cute robot statues, however, they’re selling personalities. Each Nerdbot comes with a short description of their likes, fears, and hopes. They even have a section of their website dedicated to track the lives of the bots after they are adopted into their new homes. If you can’t afford the $200+ it takes to get your very own Nerdbot there are prints and ornaments you can get for less than $20. Nerdbots will even work with you to use your scrap metal and found items to create a custom statue. These people are obsessed about getting robots into your life. I love it. Take a glimpse into the Nerdbot world in the video below.
You really have to love robots to want one that doesn’t move and looks like it was salvaged form a junkyard (which is exactly what happened). I mean, these things are a far cry from Kokoro’s actroids. That’s okay. Nerdbots isn’t really about robots, it’s about robot art.
As we build better and more capable automatons, artists will be drawn to explore them in their work. I think that’s pretty awesome. And in the case of Nerdbots, it has a major 50s kitsch factor that I love. Still, as awesome as these statues are, I know they won’t be for everyone. I think Angela said it best: “Some people are cat people, some people are dog people…we’ve always felt like we were robot people.” Amen, sister.
[image and video credit: Nerdbots]
