I founded the IoT start-up MonkeyBots with Mo Moradi. MonkeyBots are tiny robots that connect to physical objects and move them when triggered by events on the user's phone. A smart-home accesory for helpful and magical interactions.
If you only check out one thing, please watch the video.
To communicate our concept we made this video. Please watch with sound for full experience.
90 Second Video
Use Cases
Smart Routines Multiple interactions can be linked to a single trigger to create a morning routine
Poetic Nudges Localized reminders via physical objects create new experiential qualities
Retrofitting Older Devices Cheap and easy ways to smarten up the devices you own and love
Create new movements with the intuitive and delightful teaching mode: Monkey See > Monkey Do
Teaching Mode
Every tool is printed in our inhouse print-farm, optimized for quick and economical production.
Printed Tools
Unapologetically printed Extra fat layers of 3D printing are celebrated as signifiers of digital craftmanship
Many colors - all green Recycled bio-plastics locally 3D printed on demand with minimal waste
Designed with a pleasing snap Compliant mechanisms allow to design for a delightful snap with every tool
Design Process
Concept & Value Proposition With much research we fleshed out consumer benefit and possible use-cases
Electronic Prototyping We prototyped interactions and tested components with Arduino & Nordic
Video Production With any new product category you have to explain benefit and experience
1 min read Smartphones are amazing. Their notifications, reminders and nudges create the rhythm of modern life - yet each push-notification tears us from the physical world back behind the screen where our attention gets hijacked and we lose time and energy. MonkeyBots are small IoT Robots that free digital events from your phone and turn them into movement in the physical world: MonkeyBots can click analog switches, rattle pills or hit the Gong in order to poetically remind you of important things or automate your daily routines. MonkeyBots come with an array of sustainably 3D printed add-ons to grip, push, hit or click almost anything. MonkeyBots are not another creepy IoT product that steals your attention and sells your data.
Instead MonkeyBots enhance the human experience by adding a digital layer into the physical world: Retrofiting your beloved coffee-maker from the 1970s to your sleep-cycle app or connecting Grandma's picture to your call history – turning away, when you forget to call. MonkeyBots are only connected to your phone by Bluetooth-Low-Energy and have no microphones, no cameras - making it impossible to spy on you. Your phone can access the internet's rich selection of useful APIs, automations and events, but with BLE connection MonkeyBots only move if you (your phone) are close by. Good design is unobtrusive: MonkeyBots Industrial Design is an off-white square. It can stand on 5 sides with a LEGO compatible side on the bottom and a big plus on top to add different tools. Each tool is 3D printed in one extrusion, leveraging compliant mechanisms to work without moving parts. Printed from organic PLA or recycled PET MonkeyBots tools can be manufactured in unique colors to fit different living environments.
Life is richer when your phone’s blue light fades, and metallic pings silence. Get MonkeyBots and let the phone stay in your pocket. #Let’s-get-physical
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