Millennial Text Bot

Millennial Text Bot

n 2014, I made the first Robot ornament. Luckily, this robot was very popular, and shortly after its debut, I ran out of stock. Since then, it has taken me several years to accumulate enough stuff to create more robot ornaments. As you can imagine, I am not in control of the odds and ends that come my way. So, I rummaged through the bits and pieces I had collected since I started, searching for inspiration. Fortunately, I came up with a slightly different concept for this new version of the original robot. In fact, it only took one new ‘thingy’ to trigger my imagination. Thus, the Millennial Text Bot was born.

This ornament is the perfect gift for the technology lovers on your holiday list. Moreover, pair it with the Cat Robot ornament for a complete set that will delight friends and family for years to come.

Designing the Millennial Text Bot Ornament

The Special Thingy

Years back, a former employer was going to discard some old laptops. So, I decided to purchase them. I figured I could get a few more years of life out of them. After using them for some years, the laptops came to the end of their productive life. I decided to disassemble them to see what kind of interesting bits and pieces I could find. As I went through this tedious process, I discovered lots of interesting thingies at each turn. They were RAM cards, printed circuit boards, and all sort of miniature wires and connectors. Not to mention all types of miniature screws.

When I got to the keyboards, I was surprised to find very unusual parts. Attached to the back of the actual key, there was a spring like plastic mechanism. Also, there was a blue rubbery suction-cup like thingy. Not knowing how exactly I would use these parts, I decided to save them all. As I was putting them in separate plastic bags, the keyboard keys looked like Scrabble tiles. After all, I could tell them crafting words as the tiles attracted each other as if they were magnets. As a result, I could see LOL, BRB, BFF, and many more texting words jumbling inside the baggie. And so, the idea of the Millennial Text Bot ornament materialized in my head. Just like the plastic keys formed words inside the plastic bag, as the keys clicked against each other.

The Design of the Millennial Text Bot

I wanted to ensure that this new robot ornament embodied the same essence of the original one. Thus, just like with the first Robot ornament, I exposed the inner wirings of this new robot. I cut a window on the body of the robot and covered it with clear acetate. Maintaining the whimsical nature of its predecessor, I added a red heart among the printed circuit boards and RAM cards.

In 2014, I made the first Robot ornament. Next, I set googly eyes inside this frame. Second, I used the rubbery suction cup as the nose. Third, I used plastic miniature gemstones to make the mouth and pink grommets for the cheeks. Fourth, I used pop-tabs for ears. And finally, I added capacitors as antennas and wire as hair curls.

To complete the ornament, I made signs with the keyboard keys. I was limited to the letters of only four keyboards. So, all signs are different, although they all show some of the most used texting words. Cleverly, I used metal crocodile clips as arms. That abled me to clip the sign to their arm.

Specifications

Year Designed

2021

Size

Actual size may vary, approximately 3.0” x 3.0” x 6.0”

Materials

Cardboard tubes, tin metallic tape, paint, wire, pop-tabs, electronic parts, acetate, crocodile clips, heart shaped beads, capacitors, glitter cardstock, puzzle pieces, cocktail stirrers, metallic paper, grommets.

Note: Given the handmade nature of the ornament, all ornaments are different.  The pictures depict just one sample of the ornament.