Click, Beep, WHiRR
In 2004–2005, WHiRR launched as a line of robot-themed paper goods and handmade crafts. The products were available via the WHiRR website as well as various online retailers. To date, the most popular design is Boris with his sock puppet titled “Robots Need Friends, Too.” WHiRR operated from a now-defunct website called “Blissfully Bitter.” WHiRR was originally known as BitterBots but the name was changed to better reflect the character. Boris may be lots of things; bitter he is not.The WHiRR label was replaced by Robot of Leisure and inspired the idea for a graphic novel series. The series serves as an origin story for Boris, to give the audience a sense of where this silly little robot came from and why he wears silly hats. Creator Katharine Miller hopes to relaunch the Robot of Leisure product line in anticipation of Boris’s 10-year anniversary in 2013.
The Robot of Leisure graphic novel tells a story that will ring familiar to older readers. The series asks what happens when life passes us by? We get older, we lose jobs, we find that our skills are no longer relevant in the current workplace. We grieve. We get restless. We find our own little worlds to escape into. We make our own opportunities.
The Robot of Leisure books explore all of that and more in a midcentury retro-futuristic setting in a style that blends vector and hand-rendered illustration. The dialogue-free narrative style makes quick, easy reading for all ages.
Robot of Leisure began as a short-lived web comic in 2006. The first installment of the current graphic novel series was published in mid-2010. The sixth installment is scheduled to be released in late 2012.