How to Make an Engineering Musical!

We made a Toilet Cleaning Robot & an engineering themed musical! We decided to produce and engineering musical around 6 year old Erin's invention idea for a toilet cleaning robot and here is how we did it!

We love musicals at Kids Invent Stuff and they are often on our playlist when we build, but we noticed that there weren't many engineering themed musicals. So in true engineering style we decided to 'fix' that.

We spoke to a number of year 1 and reception children and asked them lots of questions about engineers- what they do, wear and make. 6 Year Old Erin told us about her invention idea for a toilet cleaning robot and we knew we had the main storyline for our musical!

We teamed up with Seamas Carey who is a songwriting genius! Inspired by the young people he wrote some very catchy songs and we had our mini musical! Seamas got together his team of talented artists and singers and recorded the tracks so that we could start filming.

Erin's Toilet Cleaning Robot was the star of the show. A metal bodied robot with around 12 motors that allowed its to drive around, turn its head, lift its arms and clean the toilet. The head has two Neopixel light eyes controlled with an Arduino. We answered more questions about the Robot HERE!

We had an amazing team who helped film, choreograph and light the musical. Working with creative theatre people, in person, was an absolute delight (especially after Covid). We spent a week filming and building finishing with our 'Robot Reveal'. For each of the four sections of the musical we had a day to film. We learnt danced through the streets and caused havoc in the workshop.

Then the task of editing began. SO MUCH EDITING! Every scene needed to be synced to the songs and hours of footage needed to be watched to find the best takes.

We have an engineering worksheet for students and we answered questions on a live Q&A. If you know of any kids' whose inventions should be brought to life, then they can send them to us at:

www.kidsinventstuff.com

We wouldn't have been able to do this without the support of Cornwall Council, who received EEGS funding from the IET and IMECHE and the support of the Royal Commission for 1851 and the ERA Foundation.

We also were honoured that Shrouk El-Attar and Allie (Geeky Faye Art) were able to be part of the musical. Unfortunately due to Covid this had to be done remotely, but it was so exciting that they were able to get involved.

Here are the talented people involved:

Vocals:

Kimberley Healey (Ruth)

Robert Scott Fleming (Shawn)

Filming:

Alfie Gidley

Dancers & Choreography:

Grace Sellwood

Charlotte Luke

Olivia Walton

Audio Mixing:

Ben Jackson

Stage Lighting & Toilet Robot Operator:

Lucy Gaskell

Drums:

Roger Luxton

Ho

Alex Heane