Simone Giertz
Simone Giertz | |
|---|---|
 Simone Giertz presenting her robot that feeds her cereal, at the Palace of the Arts (Innovation Hangar) in San Francisco, 2016 | |
| Born | Simone Luna Louise Söderlund Giertz[1] 1 November 1990[1] |
| Occupation(s) | Maker, robotics enthusiast, YouTube vlogger |
| Parent | Caroline Giertz |
| Website | http://simonegiertz.com/ |
Simone Luna Louise Söderlund Giertz (/ˈjætʃ/; YACH; Swedish: [ˈjæʈʂ]; born 1 November 1990)[1] is a Swedish inventor, maker, robotics enthusiast and professional YouTuber. She has also previously worked in MMA sports journalism, and as an editor for Sweden's official website Sweden.se.[2]
Biography
Giertz has named the Disney cartoon character Gyro Gearloose as one of her earliest inspirations. She studied engineering physics in college but dropped out after a year,[3] going on to study at Hyper Island in Stockholm, and took an interest in programming and robotics.[citation needed] Giertz's interest in electronics began in 2013; she made a toothbrush helmet for a children's show pilot episode on electronics, which was uploaded to YouTube after not being picked up, starting her YouTube career.[3]
Giertz brands herself as "the queen of shitty robots" and runs a YouTube channel where she employs deadpan humor to demonstrate mechanical robots of her own creation to automate everyday tasks; despite working from a purely mechanical standpoint, they often fall short of practical usefulness, for comic effect.[4] Giertz's creations have included an alarm clock that slaps the user,[5] a lipstick applier,[6] and one that shampoos the user's hair.[3] When building her robots, Giertz does not aim to make something useful, instead coming up with excessive solutions to potentially automatable situations.[7]
In 2016, Giertz joined Tested.com, collaborating with Adam Savage on her first project, the Popcorn Feeding Helmet.[8]
Family and personal life
As of July 2016, Giertz lives in San Francisco.[9]
The Giertz family surname is of Low German origin. She is the daughter of Caroline Giertz, novelist and TV host, who Giertz describes as a "ghostbuster" due to her mother's work on paranormal reality TV show Det Okända. Giertz is a descendant of Ericsson founder Lars Magnus Ericsson. Lutheran theologian and bishop Bo Giertz was her great-great-uncle.[citation needed]
References
- ^ a b c "Simone Söderlund Giertz fyller år den 1 November". Birthday.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 5 September 2016.
- ^ Khan, Asif (3 March 2016). "Simone Giertz, The Patron Saint of Bad Robots". Inquisitr.com. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
- ^ a b c Godlewski, Nina (1 June 2016). "This self-taught engineer invents robots designed to fail hilariously at their jobs". Tech Insider. Retrieved 22 August 2016.
- ^ Jamieson, Amber (17 March 2016). "Meet the queen of useless robots: 'The internet is a weird place'". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 March 2016.
- ^ Nsubuga, Jimmy (15 November 2015). "New alarm clock wakes you up with a slap in the face". Metro. Retrieved 22 August 2016.
- ^ Hannah Withers (7 January 2016). "This brilliant woman made a lipstick robot". The Daily Dot. Retrieved 22 August 2016.
- ^ Rutkin, Aviva (22 March 2016). "The many reasons why we love useless robots". New Scientist. Retrieved 22 August 2016.
- ^ "Simone Giertz Joins "Tested," Builds Popcorn Feeding Helmet". Make: DIY Projects and Ideas for Makers. Retrieved 2016-04-07.
- ^ "Got photo bombed by Neil deGrasse Tyson". Reddit. 23 July 2016. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
live in San Francisco since a couple of weeks back!