A pink robot, designed in 3D

A 14-year-old student in STEAM Level I designed a pink robot in Tinkercad, a free 3D modelling website, and was named LearnOBots Student of the Month for it.

How it was made

• Spheres for the eyes.

• Cuboids for the head, the arms and the legs.

• Tinkercad's group option to join shapes into a slanted piece that fits the robot's arm.

• Many small added details, which made the robot unique.

Why it matters

3D design is how most things that get made start life: as simple shapes put together on a screen. Learning to see a robot as cubes, spheres and grouped pieces is the same thinking engineers use, and a design like this can be 3D-printed.

What it teaches

• Breaking a complex object into simple shapes.

• Grouping shapes, and cutting holes from them, to make new ones.

• Measuring, aligning and checking a design from every side.

• Patience with detail: the finishing touches are what make a design yours.

Try it yourself

Tinkercad is free in a web browser. Start with a cube and a sphere, make a head with two eyes, and keep adding. 3D design and printing is one of the topics at our camps.

Designed by a LearnOBots student in STEAM Level I.