Biography:Mark Rober

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Short description: American YouTuber and engineer (born 1980)
Mark Rober
Mark Rober 2020.jpg
Rober in 2019
Born (1980-03-11) March 11, 1980 (age 44)
NationalityAmerican
Alma mater
Occupation
Known for
Children1
YouTube information
Channels
Years active2011–present
GenreScience & Technology
Subscribers29.7 million[1]
Total views4.7 billion[2]
Associated acts
YouTube Silver Play Button 2.svg 100,000 subscribers 2014
YouTube Gold Play Button 2.svg 1,000,000 subscribers 2016
YouTube Diamond Play Button.svg 10,000,000 subscribers 2019
Updated January 17, 2024

Mark Rober (born March 11, 1980[3][4][5]) is an American YouTuber, engineer, inventor, and educator. He is known for his YouTube videos on popular science and do-it-yourself gadgets. Before he became a YouTuber, Rober was an engineer with NASA for nine years, where he spent seven years working on the Curiosity rover at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He later worked for four years at Apple Inc. as a product designer in their Special Projects Group, where he authored patents involving virtual reality in self-driving cars.

Early life and education

Rober was raised in Brea, California, the youngest of three siblings. He graduated from Brea Olinda High School in 1998.[6][7] He became interested in engineering at a young age, making a pair of goggles that helped avoid eye irritation while cutting onions.[5] Rober earned a mechanical engineering degree from Brigham Young University as well as a master's degree from the University of Southern California.[8]

Career

Early career (NASA)

Rober joined NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in 2004.[9] He worked there for nine years, seven of which were spent working on the Curiosity rover, which is now on Mars.[8] He designed and delivered hardware on several JPL missions, including AMT, GRAIL, SMAP, and Mars Science Laboratory.[10] While at NASA, Rober was one of the primary architects for "JPL Wired", which was a comprehensive knowledge capture wiki.[10] He published a case study about applying wiki technology in a high-tech organization to develop an "Intrapedia" for the capture of corporate knowledge.[11]

YouTube channel, science communication

While at NASA, Rober began making viral videos.[5] His videos cover a wide variety of topics, sparking ideas for April Fools' Day pranks[12][13] and teaching about beating an escape room and filming primates in zoos non-invasively.[5] He also advocates for science in many of his videos.[14][15][16]

In October 2011, Rober recorded his first YouTube video. It shows a Halloween costume that used two iPads to create the illusion of seeing through his body.[17] His video of the "gaping hole in torso" costume went viral, receiving 1.5 million views in one day.[18][19] The following year, Rober launched Digital Dudz, an online Halloween costume company that specializes in Halloween costumes based on the same concept as the video (to which Rober holds the patent). The company took in $250,000 in revenue in its first three weeks of operations, and by 2013 his app-integrated costumes were sold in retail stores such as Party City.[17][20][21] The costumes were widely featured on news channels such as CBS News, CNN, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Fox, Yahoo! News, Discovery Channel, The Today Show and GMA.[22] He sold the company to UK-based costume company Morphsuits in 2013.[20] File:MarkRoberGlitterBomb.webm In December 2018, Rober posted a video showing how he tricked parcel thieves with an engineered contraption that sprayed glitter on the thieves, emitted a foul odor, and captured video of the thieves.[23][24] The video went viral, receiving 25 million views in one day. Rober later removed two of the five incidents caught on tape after discovering that two of the thieves were actually friends of a person he hired to help catch the package thieves.[24][25] Rober posted a follow-up in December 2019, teaming up with Macaulay Culkin and featuring an improved design.[26] Rober would post another follow up a year later with a third edition of the bomb.[27] While designing it, Rober collaborated with Jim Browning, Scammer Payback, and various state and federal authorities to use the glitter-bomb bait package as a tactic to track and arrest money mules and their supervisors, who were working with scamming call centers in India to rob elderly people of thousands of dollars. This was in conjunction with a multi-Youtuber movement to get back at and shut down scam callers, while raising awareness to prevent other people from being scammed.[28] The videos resulted in the shutdown of these call centers and the arrest of 15 senior officials involved in the scams.[29]

In 2021, Rober released the video Backyard Squirrel Maze, showing a backyard obstacle course he built to deter squirrels from stealing food from his bird feeders. He released a follow-up video of an updated obstacle course a year later. By September 2023, the original video had 114 million views; the second video, 80 million and the third, 25 million.[30]

Rober has contributed articles to Men's Health,[31] and gave a TEDx presentation in 2015 How to Come Up with Good Ideas[8] and another one entitled The Super Mario Effect – Tricking Your Brain into Learning More.[32] He has also made numerous appearances on Jimmy Kimmel Live!,[12] including guest-hosting the show in July 2022.[33]

In 2018, it was reported that Rober had been secretly working on virtual reality projects for Apple Inc.,[34] including the company's on-board entertainment for self-driving cars, for which Rober wrote two virtual reality-related patents.[35] Rober worked as a product designer in Apple's Special Projects Group from 2015 to early 2020.[36] In 2020, Rober was to star in a Discovery Channel hidden-camera show Revengineers alongside Jimmy Kimmel.[30]

In October 2019, MrBeast and Rober released a project labeled #TeamTrees, after a tweet that suggested that MrBeast should plant 20 million trees. MrBeast and Rober worked with YouTubers across the globe in an effort to make this come true. The goal of this project was to raise $20,000,000 for the Arbor Day Foundation by 2020, and in exchange, the Arbor Day Foundation would plant one tree for each dollar raised.[37] In 2021, he founded #TeamSeas with MrBeast, which raised $33 million to clean up beaches and seas, along with removing one pound of trash for each dollar donated, with help from The Ocean Cleanup.[38]

CrunchLabs

Rober is the founder of CrunchLabs, an educational technology company he launched in 2022. The company creates hands-on STEM learning experiences and subscription box services (CrunchLabs Build Box) that contain building projects and engineering challenges for kids.[30][39]

Personal life

Rober moved to Sunnyvale, California, in 2015.[36] Rober is an advocate for autism awareness, as his son is autistic.[40] In April 2021, Rober and Jimmy Kimmel hosted a live stream, raising $3 million in support of NEXT for AUTISM.[41]

Awards and nominations

In 2021, the Institution of Engineering and Technology awarded Rober a one-off prize as STEM Personality of the Year[42] and later named him an Honorary Fellow in recognition of his contribution to the engineering profession.[43]

Rober also delivered the 2023 commencement address at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.[44]

Year Award Category Nominee Result Ref.
2018 8th Streamy Awards Science or Education Mark Rober Nominated [45]
2019 9th Streamy Awards Won [46]
2020 10th Streamy Awards Learning and Education Won [47]
Nonprofit or NGO Team Trees (Mark Rober and MrBeast) Won
2021 11th Streamy Awards Science and Engineering Mark Rober Won [48]
Nonprofit or NGO NEXT for AUTISM's Color the Spectrum LIVE[lower-alpha 1]
(Mark Rober and Jimmy Kimmel) 		Won
2022 26th Webby Awards Webby Film & Video Person of the Year Mark Rober Won [49]
12th Streamy Awards Creator of the Year Nominated [50]
Science and Engineering Won
Collaboration Mark Rober, Jim Browning, and Trilogy Media[lower-alpha 2] Won
Social Good: Creator Team Seas (Mark Rober and MrBeast) Won
Brand Engagement Won
Social Impact Campaign Nominated
2023 13th Streamy Awards Science and Engineering Mark Rober Nominated [51]
Creator Product CrunchLabs Nominated

Notes

  1. ↑ Live stream hosted by Rober and Jimmy Kimmel
  2. ↑ Video entitled "Pranks Destroy Scam Callers - GlitterBomb Payback"

References

  1. ↑ "About". https://youtube.com/c/MarkRober. 
  2. ↑ "About". https://socialblade.com/youtube/c/markrober. 
  3. ↑ Rober, Mark B. [@MarkRober]. "@PookieSchabs that's a problem. March 11. You will be totally unrelate-able for 3 months." (in en). https://twitter.com/MarkRober/status/271369506952208384.  Missing or empty |date= (help)
  4. ↑ Rober, Mark B. [@MarkRober]. "This is the most accurate capture of my YT journey I've seen (usually these things just make facts up to sound well researched). Despite having a bunch of viral videos it took me 5 years to hit 100k then 1M subs. That's one way YT has changed for the better :)" (in en). https://twitter.com/MarkRober/status/1370415489910931459.  Missing or empty |date= (help)
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Hart, Hugh (February 16, 2012). "Dirt-Cheap iPhone Trick Captures Great Ape Close-Ups". Wired. https://www.wired.com/2012/02/gorilla-cam/. Retrieved December 12, 2020. 
  6. ↑ "Meet Mr. Curiosity". https://magazine.byu.edu/article/mark-rober/. 
  7. ↑ "Brea grad blasts record with Nerf gun". August 18, 2017. https://www.ocregister.com/2017/08/18/brea-grad-blasts-record-with-nerf-gun/. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 TEDx Talks (July 2, 2015). "How To Come Up With Good Ideas – Mark Rober – TEDxYouth@ColumbiaSC". YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1kbrlZRDvU. 
  9. ↑ Diaz, Jesus (August 16, 2012). "Seven Years In the Life of One of the Engineers of the Mars Curiosity Rover". Gizmodo. https://gizmodo.com/5935453/seven-years-in-the-life-of-one-of-the-engineers-of-the-mars-curiosity-rover. 
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Verville, Jon; Jones, Patricia M.; Rober, Mark. "Why Wikis at NASA?". NASA. http://appel.nasa.gov/2011/11/04/44i_wikis_at_nasa-html/. 
  11. ↑ Rober, Mark B.; Cooper, Lynne P. (2011). "Capturing Knowledge via an "Intrapedia": A Case Study". IEEE. pp. 1–10. https://www.computer.org/csdl/proceedings/hicss/2011/9618/00/05718879.pdf. Retrieved December 18, 2018. 
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Worland, Justin (March 31, 2016). "Let a NASA Nerd Show You Some Easy and Awesome April Fools' Pranks". Time (magazine). http://time.com/4277573/april-fools-pranks-jimmy-kimmel/. Retrieved May 4, 2016. 
  13. ↑ Spence, Shay (September 3, 2015). "Skinning a Watermelon Is Your New Labor Day Party Trick". People. https://people.com/food/how-to-skin-watermelon-tip/. 
  14. ↑ Fink, Jenni (July 29, 2019). "Shark Week Fact Vs. Fiction: Former NASA Engineer Tests If Sharks Can Smell a Drop of Blood in Ocean". Newsweek. https://www.newsweek.com/shark-week-mark-rober-blood-ocean-water-1451623. 
  15. ↑ Stewart, Jessica (December 4, 2017). "Ex-NASA Engineer Uses Science to Transform Hot Tub Full of Sand into "Liquid Soup"". My Modern Met. https://mymodernmet.com/mark-rober-liquid-sand-experiment/. 
  16. ↑ Future of Philanthropy (March 12, 2019). "How Bill Gates ended up eating pizza rolls on YouTube". Fast Company. https://www.fastcompany.com/90316948/how-bill-gates-ended-up-eating-pizza-rolls-on-youtube. 
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Shubber, Kadhim (August 23, 2013). "Mark Rober left Nasa to make awesome wearable tech Halloween costumes". Wired UK. https://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-08/23/mark-rober-costumes. Retrieved May 3, 2016. 
  18. ↑ Johnson, Charity (October 2, 2015). "Go Hi-Tech This Halloween With These DIY Costume Videos". Tech Times. http://www.techtimes.com/articles/89842/20151002/go-hi-tech-this-halloween-with-these-diy-costume-videos.htm. 
  19. ↑ Kelly, Heather (October 18, 2013). "Smartphone wounds and other high-tech Halloween tricks". CNN. http://edition.cnn.com/2013/10/18/tech/innovation/high-tech-halloween/. 
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Clark, Patrick (October 18, 2013). "A NASA Engineer Builds a Better Halloween Costume". Bloomberg News. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-10-18/a-nasa-engineer-builds-a-better-halloween-costume. 
  21. ↑ Pepitone, Julianne (December 12, 2014). "Digitally animated ugly Christmas sweaters bring the kitsch to a new level". Today. http://www.today.com/money/digitally-animated-ugly-christmas-sweaters-bring-kitsch-new-level-1D80365895. 
  22. ↑ Digital Dudz. "Select Digital Dudz Media Coverage 2013– Incld GMA, TODAY, Leno, Miley". YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIBiaaAWVqI. 
  23. ↑ Kleinman, Zoe (December 18, 2018). "Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves". BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-46604625. 
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 Shannon, Joel (January 23, 2019). "Viral glitter bomb video featured fake thieves, creator admits in apology". USA Today. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2018/12/21/viral-glitter-bomb-video-featured-fake-thieves-creator-says/2389954002/. 
  25. ↑ "A glitter bomb makes for sweet revenge on a package thief". Considerable. January 23, 2019. https://considerable.com/a-glitter-bomb-makes-for-sweet-revenge-on-a-package-thief/. 
  26. ↑ Scribner, Herb (December 18, 2019). "BYU grad and former NASA engineer teams with Macaulay Culkin for new viral decoy porch prank". Deseret News. https://www.deseret.com/utah/2019/12/18/21025001/byu-nasa-macaulay-culkin-mark-rober-glitter-bomb. 
  27. ↑ Burton, Bonnie. "Ex-NASA engineer builds exploding glitter bomb to catch package thieves" (in en). https://www.cnet.com/news/ex-nasa-engineer-built-an-exploding-glitter-bomb-to-catch-package-thieves/. 
  28. ↑ Webster, Sophie (24 April 2021). "Mark Rober, a Former NASA Scientist Turned YouTuber Content Creator That Engineered Glitterbomb Packages". Tech Times. https://www.techtimes.com/articles/259502/20210424/mark-rober-former-nasa-scientist-turned-youtuber-content-creator-engineered.htm. 
  29. ↑ Joshi, Sonam (29 May 2022). "How four international YouTube sleuths teamed up to expose call centre scams in Kolkata". The Times of India. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/sunday-times/how-four-international-youtube-sleuths-teamed-up-to-expose-call-centre-scams-in-kolkata/articleshow/91859500.cms. 
  30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 30.2 Gordon, Devin (August 9, 2022). "How Mark Rober became the Willy Wonka of engineering". https://www.fastcompany.com/90770755/mark-rober-crunchlabs-most-creative-people-2022. 
  31. ↑ "Author: Mark Rober". Men's Health. http://www.menshealth.com/author/mark-rober. 
  32. ↑ TEDx Talks (May 31, 2018), The Super Mario Effect – Tricking Your Brain into Learning More | Mark Rober | TEDxPenn, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vJRopau0g0, retrieved October 29, 2018 
  33. ↑ "Jimmy Kimmel Live Schedule for the Week of 7/11/2022". 8 July 2022. https://abc.com/shows/jimmy-kimmel-live/news/schedule/jkl-schedule-for-07112022. 
  34. ↑ Roettgers, Janko (June 26, 2018). "YouTuber Mark Rober Secretly Develops VR for Self-Driving Cars for Apple (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. https://variety.com/2018/digital/news/youtube-maerk-rober-apple-vr-1202858396/. 
  35. ↑ Aiello, Chloe (June 26, 2018). "A YouTube star with more than 3 million followers has reportedly been working at Apple in secret". CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/26/youtuber-joins-apple-in-developing-vr-for-self-driving-cars.html. 
  36. ↑ 36.0 36.1 Towne, Erika (February 5, 2020). "Sunnyvale Resident Glitter Bombs Package Thieves, Gets Discovery Channel Show". The Silicon Valley Voice. https://www.svvoice.com/sunnyvale-resident-glitter-bombs-package-thieves-gets-discovery-channel-show/. 
  37. ↑ "#teamtrees". https://teamtrees.org/. 
  38. ↑ Halder, Rituraj (5 December 2022). "Millionaire MrBeast Wins Big For His Philanthropic Work At YouTube Streamy Awards 2022 – 'Creator for Social Good'". Essentially Sports. https://www.essentiallysports.com/esports-news-millionaire-mrbeast-wins-big-for-his-philanthropic-work-at-youtube-streamy-awards-2022-creator-for-social-good/. 
  39. ↑ Sudborough, Susannah. "Here's the life advice YouTuber Mark Rober gave to MIT's 2023 graduates". https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2023/06/01/mit-mark-rober-youtube-2023-commencement/. 
  40. ↑ Rober, Mark [@MarkRober] (April 2, 2018). "Happy Autism awareness day/month. The best part of my day is the 20-minute nighttime routine with my son and his stuffed animals. Repetition doesn't bother him (in fact he prefers it) so my same jokes totally kill every night.". https://twitter.com/MarkRober/status/981037162920464384. 
  41. ↑ "Jimmy Kimmel, Conan O'Brien, Charlize Theron and More Help Raise $3M for Next for Autism". The Hollywood Reporter. 30 April 2021. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/jimmy-kimmel-conan-obrien-charlize-theron-next-for-autism-fundraiser-4176943/. 
  42. ↑ "27 April 2021: IET crowns STEM Personalities of the Year - The IET" (in en-US). https://www.theiet.org/media/press-releases/press-releases-2021/27-april-2021-iet-crowns-stem-personalities-of-the-year/. 
  43. ↑ "IET launches Sustainable Community Competition" (in en-US). The Institute of Engineering and Technology. https://www.theiet.org/media/press-releases/press-releases-2021/2-september-2021-former-nasa-engineer-and-youtube-sensation-mark-rober-receives-prestigious-engineering-accolade/. 
  44. ↑ Wren, Kathy (2022-12-08). "Mark Rober to deliver MIT's 2023 Commencement address". https://news.mit.edu/2022/mark-rober-2023-commencement-address-1208. 
  45. ↑ "8th Annual Winners". Streamy Awards. https://www.streamys.org/nominees-winners/8th-annual-nominees/. Retrieved 27 February 2023. 
  46. ↑ "9th Annual Winners". Streamy Awards. https://www.streamys.org/nominees-winners/9th-annual-nominees/. Retrieved 27 February 2023. 
  47. ↑ "10th Annual Winners". Streamy Awards. https://www.streamys.org/nominees-winners/10th-annual-nominees/. Retrieved 27 February 2023. 
  48. ↑ "11th Annual Winners". Streamy Awards. https://www.streamys.org/nominees-winners/11th-annual-nominees/. Retrieved 27 February 2023. 
  49. ↑ "Webby Film & Video Person of the Year". Webby Awards. https://winners.webbyawards.com/2022/specialachievement/310/mark-rober. Retrieved 27 February 2023. 
  50. ↑ "12th Annual Winners". Streamy Awards. https://www.streamys.org/nominees-winners/12th-annual-nominees. Retrieved 10 December 2022. 
  51. ↑ "13th Annual Streamy Winners" (in en). https://www.streamys.org/nominees-winners/13th-annual-nominees/. 

External links



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