Mission
At Cardboard Robots, I aim to enhance STEAM education with simple, accessible, and eco-friendly robotic solutions. I believe learning should be hands-on, creative, and sustainable — no need for more plastic toys when you can build and innovate with materials you already have.
What will you find here?
- Innovative Robot Designs – Easy-to-follow plans to build your own robots.
- Interactive Learning Apps – Engaging apps to support your projects.
- Comprehensive Manuals & Tutorials – Step-by-step guides for beginners and pros alike.
- Teacher Training & Lesson Plans – Tools to empower educators in the classroom
Who are cardboard robots for?
Cardboard robots are designed to be made at school with students aged from 10 years old and up.
My goal is to make cardboard designs as useful as possible for teachers and educators worldwide. I try to keep the designs basic so students can build them within limited time frame at school. I propose to use only easily accessible, free (cardboard) when possible, or reasonably cheap (Micro:Bit) tools and components that are available worldwide.
Sustainability is a welcomed side-effect of this approach. My robot designs contain mostly recycled and recyclable materials and connecting elements are reusable (nuts, bolts and rubber bands).
Design principles
Simplicity
Cardboard robots are designed for school use thus we always put function over form and try to make the constructions as simple as possible. We are familiar with time constraints of regular school lesson and what you can actually achieve with teenage students in short time.
Accesibility
Cordboard robots is not another STEAM robotics kit. I design free robotic plans, develop free apps and good practices how to use it at school. I propose only tools that are available and easy to source worldwide.
Since for any robot you need a minimal set of electronic components you have to source yourself we try to use as little of them as possible and only components that are widely available worldwide such as BBC Micro:Bit and regular servo motors.
Opennes
One of the greatest advantages of working with cardboard is a fact that you can modify it any way you want. Use our designs to jumpstart your students creativity and encourage them to find their own way. Engineering type students can work on mechanical problems, storytellers can personalise their robots appearance with any crafty material.
Why Cardboard?
Cardboard is a highly underrated construction material. In everyday life, we often see it as disposable packaging, quickly tossed aside. But it offers so much more.
- It’s Virtually Free – When rescued from the trash, cardboard becomes a cost-effective, widely available resource around the world.
- Sparks Imagination – Once you get familiar with its properties, cardboard becomes a canvas for creativity. Modeling it opens up endless possibilities for innovative designs and visual expression.
- Build Big or Small – Unlike other systems, cardboard allows for projects of any size. Whether it’s a tiny figure or a towering two-meter castle, the only limit is your imagination.
Why BBC Micro:Bit?
Since building robots requires some kind of programmable controller I had to choose one that fits these principles:
- Is easy to use and school friendly
- Has basic robotics capabilities – some sensors and driving motors
- Is affordable and available worldwide
The decision was in fact quite easy as BBC Micro:Bit board fits the guidelines perfectly and over last few years had grown very strong educational community.
BUT!
As you may notice our robots designs are quite universal so you can easily adapt it to any other controller bord like Arduino, Raspberry Pi etc. Some of the models are designed with the controller outside the robot so any board that can drive a servo motor will work with it!
Who am I?
CARDBOARD ROBOTS idea was created by Maciej Wojnicki founder and creator of LOFI Robot
I have over 15 years of experience in teaching about creative use of technology. I led dozens of workshop on robotics, creative coding, constructing musical instruments and similar topics for adults and kids.
I started first Fab Lab in Poland in 2013 which sparked a wave of other fab labs, makerspaces and hackerspaces being created all over Poland at the time.
In 2014 started LOFI Robot, ed-tech startup based around an idea of robotic kit with lasercut wooden blocks and Arduino. LOFI Robot kits are used in hundreds of schools in Poland.
I am a minimalist at heart, that is why I love CARDBOARD.