A Kickstarter in the Gut

Dear Supporters,

I want to take a moment to express our deep gratitude for the support and enthusiasm we've received from the community. Your belief in our mission has been a driving force behind everything we do at Citizen Robotics.

As Executive Director, I take full responsibility for the results of our Kickstarter campaign, which unfortunately did not meet its funding goal. In hindsight, I realize our approach may have been a bit out of sequence—we asked for your support to build a 3D-printed sauna after successfully printing a house. Perhaps this order of events caused some confusion. As any good Finn would tell you, the sauna usually comes first!

All humor aside, let's get serious about why we do what we do.

At Citizen Robotics, we believe every child in America deserves to feel safe and secure in their home. They deserve the kind of security that comes from a warm, loving environment—one where parents aren't constantly worried about paying the next heating bill or putting fresh produce on the table. But today, our country faces a growing housing crisis, and we must no longer ignore it.

We keep building mostly the same way and subsidizing shortcomings with tax dollars as if there’s nothing more we can do. We’ve become reliant on systems created by people with lofty ideas of how things should be some fifty years ago, seventy years ago, or more. Before space travel. Before computers and cell phones. Before the internet. Back when posts were in the ground and tweets came from tiny beaks. These were good systems, great systems that have lasted a very long time, and their creators and refiners should be highly regarded. But these were just systems of their time, systems that humans have made and can remake. 

It's time to allow room for change. It's time to go forward with courage and conviction, secure in the understanding that everything that's come before will not be wasted but instead will be used to create the future. We need to begin again with the advanced tools and technologies available today, tools proven in manufacturing with craftsmen schooled in digitalization, robotics, and ecosystems. We'll leverage bits and bytes, cobots and robots, machine learning and AI, iPhones and Androids. This includes 3D printing, digitalization, and robotics, which have the potential to revolutionize how we approach construction.

Far from being shut out of this futuristic landscape, skilled trades workers, the most precious commodity of all, the ones least likely to be replaced by artificial intelligence, will be front and center on the job site, leveled up with digital superpowers.

I'm grateful for our supporters and proud of what we've accomplished so far. Thousands of people have seen our work, stood inside our 3D-printed house, and experienced firsthand the future of construction. But this is just the beginning.

Although we didn't reach our Kickstarter goal, we've learned valuable lessons about how to ask for support and whom to ask. To those who heard our plea and pledged whatever they could afford in this moment, we thank you for digging deep for us. To those of you rooting for us but without the means to commit, know that we won’t stop asking. 

We’ll get more clever about being in the right places where money is flowing, and we’ll ask again. At ball games and bowl games, we’ll ask. In boardrooms and ballrooms, we’ll ask. We’ll ask at your house. We’ll ask at my house. We’ll make our way to the White House and again, we’ll ask. 

We won't stop asking until we get what we need to resolve the housing crisis, resolve it in a way that keeps construction scraps from landfills, resolve it while improving the air we breathe, and resolve it in a way that gets your kids the lasting STEAM education they deserve to keep learning and growing for a lifetime.

We'll take that money and we'll show the kids the future that's here for them today. We'll help them download the 3D model of a house. We'll help them rent a 3D printer that's right for the task. We'll help them buy the material that's tried and tested. We'll help them press print and finish the house with details that make it a home.

We’ll be back with new strategies, new workshops, and renewed determination. And when we succeed, our kids—and yours—will live happily ever after in the 3D-printed, net zero, homes of their dreams.

Thank you for believing in us. And thank you for showing your support however you are able. Hit up citizenrobotics.org/donate if that ability includes the almighty dollar.

Sincerely,  

Tom Woodman 

Executive Director, Citizen Robotics