TinyRobot

Hire Charles

Fractional Creative Technologist

The answer is almost always yes. He tells you what yes costs.

A senior creative technologist on your team, a day or two a week. Charles works out how your concepts get made, builds the proof, leads the vendors, and stays responsible for the technology until the doors close.

  • A day or two a week
  • Hardware and code, both halves
  • Sprints from $5,200
  • Retainers from $11,000 a month

Book a callHow it starts

You need this when

The record

  • Seven years as a creative technologist
  • Ten Super Bowls, four Olympic Games
  • Hardware and code since 1999
  • A shop he built himself

Five 3D printers, including one that prints in clay. A CNC router, a metal shop, robots that draw and a humanoid that moves. When a concept needs proof, it gets built on his own bench, not ordered from someone else's.

What you get

  1. 01

    Can we build it?

    Each concept back with how it gets made, roughly what it costs, and where it will break. Written so your team can decide without him in the room.

    See it in Grip Tester

  2. 02

    The technical approach

    Sensors, controllers, sound, light, code, power and networking, chosen for the room, the schedule and the people who will run it.

    See it in The Fry House

  3. 03

    A working prototype, early

    A rough version on the bench, so everyone can put their hands on the idea before it's expensive.

    See it in The Clay Printer

  4. 04

    Vendors, led

    Developers, fabricators, AV and show control, briefed, quoted, checked and held to it. One person responsible for the technology.

  5. 05

    Explained to your client

    Plain language in the room. Charles sells the idea, not the spec sheet, and answers the hard technical question before it becomes a worry.

  6. 06

    Built to run all day

    Things that never look broken to the staff, and that they can fix with the tools they have.

    See it in Oversized Foosball

Hiding the technology costs more, and it's worth it

The fry house button could have been plugged into the wall, with a cable to the speakers. Instead it ran on its own battery and took over the room's sound system over Bluetooth. More parts, more ways to fail, more cost, and a button that could go anywhere. That's the call a creative technologist makes every day: when the extra work buys the magic, and when it doesn't.

Charles has been building both halves since 1999, the hardware and the code. He has also been the creative director on the same jobs, so the technology always serves the idea, not the other way around.

How it starts

  1. Week 1

    The inventory

    Read the concepts, the budget and the schedule. Meet the creatives, the producers and every vendor touching the technology.

  2. Week 2

    The read

    Each idea back with how it gets built, what it costs, and its riskiest part. Written so your team can decide without him in the room.

  3. Weeks 3 to 4

    Proof on the bench

    A working version of the riskiest part, tested until it passes or tells us what to change.

  4. After that

    Through the install

    Vendor calls, integration, testing on site, and the people running it trained before the doors open.

Things Charles built

Our role: Creative director for the whole fry house. Built the button.

Our role: Concept, writing, electronics, fabrication, code

Our role: Idea, electronics, build

Ways to work together

  • Start here

    A sprint

    One to two weeks: a technical read on a set of concepts, or a working prototype of the riskiest part. The easiest way to find out if we work well together.

    Not included: Final fabrication, installation.

    From $5,200

  • Standing

    A day or two a week, on call for your creative and production teams.

    Not included: Fabrication, materials, full software builds.

    From $11,000 a month

  • By the program

    Technical lead for one program, from first concept through install and strike.

    Not included: Fabrication and materials.

    Quoted per program

Build work, fabrication and materials are always quoted separately from fees for the role, so the two never get tangled.

What it isn't

Questions people ask

Have you done this before?
Charles was a creative technologist at an experiential agency for seven years, and has been building hardware and code since 1999. Fractional is the same work, for teams that need it a day or two a week.
Isn't this just a developer?
A developer builds what's specified. A creative technologist helps decide what should be built, then builds the proof. Charles has been a creative director too, so he never loses track of what the idea is for.
Do you build the final thing?
Often, at least the interactive heart of it: electronics, code and mechanisms in the TinyRobot shop, with a fabricator Charles trusts for anything bigger than the bench. Build work is quoted separately from the role.
What kind of technology?
Whatever the room needs: microcontrollers and industrial controllers, sensors, sound and light, wireless, cameras, printers, software and AI pipelines. Objects first. Screens when they earn it.
Can you help us with AI?
Yes, where it earns its place. Charles builds multi-stage AI pipelines of his own; DeepCut and Eshu are on the work page. He'll tell you when AI is the right tool, and when a button and a light would do the job better.
Can you work with our fabricator?
Yes, and gladly. Charles has always been close to the shops and the producers. They tell him the truth early, and that's how a concept survives.

Tell me what you're trying to build.

I reply within a day. Then a 30-minute call: no deck, no pitch. If it can't be built, I'll tell you that too, and what could be.

Book a call