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Robot queen Simone Giertz on inventions, the internet, and not winning a Darwin Award

Robot queen Simone Giertz on inventions, the internet, and not winning a Darwin Award

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'My life has become so wonderfully bizarre'

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Simone Giertz is a 25-year old inventor from Stockholm, Sweden, best known for charming the internet with her "shitty robots," as she calls them. Except they're not shitty at all, because they've fulfilled their purpose in delighting anyone with a pair of eyes and a heart full of childlike wonder. One of the robots she made is the wake-up machine, an alarm clock that wakes people up by slapping them in the face with a rubber arm. Another one is the hair-washing robot, which uses the same severed hand from the wake-up machine, just resourcefully put to use in a different way.

You'll find GIFs of Giertz's inventions in pretty much every corner of the internet, usually without context. But does a robot that spoon-feeds you cereal while you read a book really need any context? We wanted to know more about the woman behind these awkwardly endearing robots (and maybe embark on a secret mission to make her our new best friend), so we reached out to her.

breakfast machine

How did you get into YouTube? Did the robots come first or did it all happen together?

I’ve unlisted those videos now, which I kind of regret, but I’ve had my YouTube channel for three or four years. It was very under the radar for the first three and a half years. I was publishing comedy sketches and skits in Swedish. When I started doing shitty robots I remember thinking about which platform I should publish it on. I was considering doing a blog, but I just realized video format was the best way, so I after I had finished my first project — the toothbrush helmet — I just uploaded it there. Now my channel is only about robots, but it’s been around from before all the Queen of Shitty Robots stuff started happening.

You’re a naturally funny person. Do you have a background in comedy?

I did a one-week stand-up course when I was like 16 and bored for a summer, but nothing else really. I think it’s just my natural approach to stuff in life. As for making video comedy, pretty much anyone can do it. When I got started, I just filmed it with my webcam and used iMovie to edit the video, which I still use. You don’t really need any training, as long as you know how to get around Google.

wake up machine

In a space like YouTube where everyone seems to fit into a specific category, like beauty vloggers and comedians, you’ve carved out a space for yourself where it feels like you created an entirely new genre. Where do you see yourself fitting into those YouTube categories?

"No matter what I do, there’s always going to be a comedy aspect."

I do Science and Technology for all of my YouTube videos, but it’s an interesting question since I'm kind of in between categories. I think I’ve kind of carved out a sweet spot for myself by combining science and comedy. To me, it’s like putting syrup in your medicine. Everything just goes down easier if you add humor to it, and you can reach a lot more people if you manage to do it in an entertaining way.

You have a lot of videos that go viral with each one of the robots that you put out. It feels like every time that happens, you’d get a new wave of fans and audiences. So who exactly is your audience?

It varies a lot. In the beginning it was like 90 percent men, and now it's more like 80 / 20. The biggest category is men between 25–34, and it's mainly engineers and people who are interested in tech in general. But it's getting more and more diverse and I really hope to reach more people who are outside of the whole tech bubble.

That’s really surprising to me, because I feel like you set a really inspiring example as a woman in tech.

I’ve shied away from the ‘women in tech’ question because it’s always what people ask about. I think as soon as you’re a woman, or any minority doing something, you automatically become a representative for it, and I think a lot of brilliant women’s interviews are being wasted on talking about what it’s like being a woman. But yeah, totally wish it was 50 / 50 between the genders on my channel.

On your Twitter, there was this whole incident with a gendered princess / astronaut duvet cover, which you dubbed #bedgate. How do you deal with all of the nonsense out there?

To be honest, I just try to avoid it because I’m the only one losing on getting upset. It’s like, no matter what I build, people either write, "I wanna see the sex toy version of this," or "You would get more followers if you did it with your shirt off!"

I’ve been so spared from a lot of the bullshit many YouTubers have to deal with on a daily basis. I’ve gotten very little hate overall and 95 percent of the comments are great, so I just hope it stays that way.

You mentioned you’re a fan of the HowToBasic channel on YouTube. What are some of your other favorite YouTube channels?

I really like Tested! [laughs] But seriously, I think they’re creating some great content over there. Then there’s a difference between what I watch officially and what I actually indulge in. Officially, I really like the ones who are great science communicators, and show different things you can do with engineering. Colin Furze has built some crazy stuff on his channel, he’s just mad. Unofficially, I binge watch people like Grace Helbig and Jenna Marbles, and the occasional Dr. Pimple Popper. You've got to phase into it, you start off with some mild videos and then suddenly you’re sitting there watching people picking out worms from somebody's feet. It’s very gross and very fascinating.

You’re working with Adam Savage's Tested now!

Yup! I’m moving to San Francisco to build stuff with Adam and Norm. I’m doing Tested part-time, so I’m going to keep running my own YouTube channel outside of that.

tested

What's your greatest ambition in life?

Right now, it’s avoiding winning a Darwin Award. But maybe when I'm older, it’d be fun to go out with a bang.

I have a very long bucket list, and it’s gotten a lot longer since all the Queen of Shitty Robots stuff started happening. Going to space is at the top of that list right now. I’m giving it 10 years. On a smaller scale I want to learn how to weld, and also get a driver’s license! That’s on my "feel bad about not doing it" bucket list. That’s at the top of my bucket list. I also really want to buy a submarine.

Career wise, I’m looking into different opportunities to do a TV show, but in some way that’s not a goal in itself. To me, the goal is creating content and doing fun stuff that I’m proud to show. I don’t want to do a TV show for the sake of doing it.

Do you ever have nightmares that your robots will rise up and gang up against you?

I actually have never had that, which is kind of weird, maybe.

If you think of them as your babies, I guess you wouldn’t be threatened by them. Is that how you feel about your robots?

No, some of them are pretty terrifying. Sometimes I feel like "what the heck have I created," especially with projects like the chopping machine.

Do you keep them all in one room, and it’s like a room full of knives and severed hands?

Yeah, I keep them all! Sometimes I borrow parts from them, but then I put them back together. I often bring them to parties. [laughs] No, but I do bring them to events and TV shows. I have them at the office but my desk is getting pretty cluttered. I would want to start a mini-museum. They look kind of weird, especially all of them together, it’s a very funky collection.

But no, I’m not really scared of them, I feel more that other people should be scared of them because I’m the person holding the joystick.