My name is Evan and I am the maker and seller of “Copter Bots.” A “Copter Bot” is a paper robot that can fly and spin. I made 5 different designs to test and fly before creating my final “Copter Bot” product.
I came up with the idea because there was a popular game called, Minecraft, who sold little origami squares designed to look like its characters. There was no way I was going to copy off the game, so I thought what could be made out of paper and be awesome? Robots! But something was missing, it should do something. Maybe it could drive? I wondered how I was going to make that. When I was thinking, a helicopter passed over our house. That was it, a helicopter!
My dad had taught me how to make paper helicopters a while ago and this made building a template a little bit easier. My dad made copies of our “Copter Bot” template for me. Then I designed what it looked like by drawing on the template. Since my dad works at Toys”R”Us headquarters making ads, he helped find a huge selection of robots on the computer. I picked my favorite eyes, body, arms, and legs and drew my own “Copter Bot” look. My dad scanned my final drawing on the template into the computer. I picked which colors should go where and what colors we could use. Then I wrote the directions.
Now was the hardest part, putting them together. Luckily, it only took one day. My dad cut them out with his X-Acto knife to make them look more professional, as I supervised. I did the folding and my mom did the taping, almost like an assembly line. Then it was time for the fun part, I tested each one to make sure they all spun right.
I sold my built “Copter Bot” product for $1 each. I also had the templates for sale at 2 for $1, in case anyone wanted to build it themselves! I made $41 profit! I had a lot of fun at TREP$ and I can’t wait until next year!
