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One of my favorite projects that I ever created turned out to be my third published book (which is much more than a book) titled Robox and published by Running Press Book Publishers.
Just after my second book was released, I was challenged by my publisher to write a book and design a novelty item to go with it that would all fit nicely within a small box. I immediately thought of a project that I had created almost fifteen years earlier. It actually was a gift box for my wife, with hidden chambers, designed to resemble a simple robot. I had even called it the “robox“ at the time I made it. For my publisher, I quickly proposed an idea which involved designing a kit that included parts to build your own robot, all nested within the packaging box, which itself would become the robot’s torso.
My concept was all about surprising the reader: the finished robot would magically be larger than the box it came in, and it would also include a storybook about Robox and his boy, complete with stickers to personalize it and recreate its story.
Seeing Robox come to life has certainly been a thrill. I have had the opportunity to introduce it to schools and creative workshops and I have even built a few on live television. Robox’s impressive reach has extended to places as diverse as the Brooklyn Robot Foundry to the California-based Rolling Robots, from Space Center Houston to The Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum!