About Me

My origin story

Carl Manson, Founder – FindARobot

G'day. I'm Carl — I've been a graphic designer in Perth for over 20 years and a maker/woodworker in my spare time. Now, apparently I am also the mastermind behind this crazy idea that is FindARobot.

How did the idea come about you ask? Well — it all started back in 2012 when my then-fiancée Alicia and I were planning our wedding. We wanted to make something custom — a laser-cut wooden piece that would form part of a handmade piece that wedding guests could sign and we could keep. I tracked down an online giftware company and, because I'm a graphic designer, I knew how to talk to them. I knew to ask about custom work. I knew how to scope the job and supply the vector cutting and engraving paths so that they could produce something that wasn't listed on their website. In the end, we got exactly what we needed.

And then I thought: most people wouldn't have done that. They'd have scrolled the site, found nothing that fit, and settled for something generic. Not because the capability didn't exist — it was sitting right there — but because there was no obvious way in. No one had told them they could just... ask.

That stuck with me.

I'm not a Wrangler myself. I don't have a laser cutter or a CNC router — though I do have a lathe and some half-finished woodworking projects. What I have is a designer's habit of noticing when a system is broken, and a stubborn interest in fixing it.

FindARobot is that fix. Built properly. For everyone.

Got a question, or just want to say g'day? Drop me a line at [email protected] — I read everything.