Built to be remembered.
TinyRobot is a creative studio and shop in Milwaukee's historic Harambee neighborhood, serving clients around the world. Alongside fabricators, artists and engineers we've worked with for years, we help to concept, design, and build experiences that people take with them: immersive experiences, physical/digital interactions, unforgettable moments of beauty and awe. We've shown up at everything from Super Bowls and the World Cup to local Pride Fests and game shops, and we bring the same care to everything we touch.
Every experience deserves one thing people line up for.
A kid who beats her dad and won't stop talking about it. Two strangers who high-five after a game neither of them planned to play. The shy one who waited for the line to clear. The person who ran it all day and still went home smiling. That's who we build for. The objects and experiences we create are how, but the memory is the why. The why is the most important part.
The photo is nice. The story someone tells at dinner that night is the real win.
From the first sketch to the last night.
Every project starts with the same four questions, and none of them are about us. They're about the person who walks up. Get those right and everything else we do, the strategy, the prototypes, the build, has something to serve.
How we work- 01 · The feeling
What will they feel?
Awe. Joy. A little longing. The laugh that surprises them. We start with the feeling, because everything we build is there to deliver it.
- 02 · The senses
What will they touch?
Not just with their hands. What they hear, what they hold, what the room smells like, what answers back when they reach for it. People live in their senses, so that's where we build.
- 03 · The story
What will they say?
To the friend next to them, to their feed, at the kitchen table that night. If they can't describe it in one breath, we're not done designing it.
- 04 · The memory
What will they remember?
The best experiences stick for years, and every time someone remembers one, they get to live a little of it again. That's what we're really making.
Look what we did!
The Fry House
A fry house for McCain SureCrisp, the official fry of the Chicago Cubs, built around one big red button. Get a good fry, hit it, and the whole plaza is yours for a few seconds.
The Grate Love Tester
A vintage carnival love tester for Daiya's summer tour, with a brass handle, a hidden camera and a staff remote. Squeeze it to find out how much you love cheese.
Foosball at the World Cup
An oversized foosball table for Lilly at the FIFA Fan Festival on the Zócalo in Mexico City. Eight players, one table, five weeks of the World Cup.
One person. Lots of big-brain friends. A few forklifts.
Charles Collins leads every project, from the first studio sketches to the night it goes in, and every late night in the shop. When a project outgrows the bench, we bring in fabricators and specialists we know and trust. Some clients bring us the thing at the center of their event. Others bring us in to augment their team. Either way, you get the whole package: the talent, the tools, and the big brains behind them.
Meet CharlesIdeas that kept us up at night.
Machines and software we build because an idea wouldn't leave us alone. It's where the next client idea usually comes from. Ask us about any of them. We will talk your ear off.
DeepCut
An app that reads your Spotify or Tidal library and tells you the story your years of saved songs have been telling.
The Humanoid
An animatronic humanoid with a face that moves, eyes that look back at you, and a torso full of servos. It started as a head and kept growing.
Eshu
Point it at a house and Eshu reads eleven public records on it, then writes the story of that house and its block in plain language, with every number next to something that makes it mean something.
Anansi
The job queue behind Eshu and DeepCut. It hands out the work, keeps track of who is doing it, and notices when something falls over.
What are we building?
Tell us who's coming and what you want them to feel when they leave. Bring a brief, a sketch, or the idea you're sure must be possible. We reply within a day.
