Philip Norman came to his job as technical lead at Ross Robotics Ltd., which makes reconfigurable robots, via a most nontechnical avenue: the arts, he told the Solid Edge 2015 University audience.

The even was being held in Cincinnati at the end of October.

Norman’s arts and architecture background led him to design the three-dimensional modular robots that can be custom-built from only a few available components. They’re for use over rough terrain and in hazardous environments. The European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN, has adopted the robots to help design and build particle accelerators in an environment where strong magnet fields, “the strongest on the planet” are detrimental to humans, Norman said.

He’s illustrated children’s books, drew editorial cartoons, designed and built houses, and reverse-engineered vernacular architect’s structures to understand how they were built. He also paints and writes.

His interest in modular structures was peaked when his children brought home construction toys like LEGOS and K’nex. From a few available bricks and shapes, his children could create multiple structures.

“But still, so many parts were needed to make not-that-many different toys,” Norman said. “I thought, ‘is there another way of doing this? Couldn’t a very few parts make a fantastic number of very few toys?’”

Many nights of light-night study followed, as did his acquaintance with and then scaled-up learning of the Solid Edge CAD design system. He wanted to learn about and understand the geometries behind certain designs, Norman said.

“I was drawing my ideas,” he said. “I’d learned technical drawing in school with protractors. Then a friend in aerospace told me, ‘you’re the last person on the planet doing that. Haven’t you heard of CAD design?’”

“It was a discovery for me CAD could do all this stuff,” he added.

Norman had soon learned the CAD system well enough to design and patent a connecting-style toy. But then he couldn’t sell it.

Next step: shift from toys to what he called “high volume reconfiguring.”

“What I hadn’t realized is there are many things robots must do. They need to be robust, easy to use, instantly reconfigurable, highly mobile, multi-scale, be able to operate in multiple environments and be intelligent,” he said.

The component modules Ross Robotics makes are of simple geometry, but the combination of them brings the complexity, Norman said.

“Modules have to be able to be connected so guy on oilrig at night can understand how to do it and also be affordable and robust,” he said.

The robots include coaxial power and data and physical connectors made of plastic and of metal produced with metalizing techniques so as to be lightweight. The connectors can handle high levels of current and be produced in high numbers, he said.

Apart from their use at CERN, his robots can do work on oil rigs, jungle environments, in sandstorms, and in sewers.

Though it may seem like robots and children’s books have little in common, by keeping his eyes open to techniques used in engineering and the arts he’s seen the similarities and bridged the divide, he said.