In this joyful, heartfelt talk featuring demos of her wonderfully wacky creations, Simone Giertz shares her craft: making useless robots. Her inventions -- designed to chop vegetables, cut hair, apply lipstick and more -- rarely (if ever) succeed, and that's the point. "The true beauty of making useless things [is] this acknowledgment that you don't always know what the best answer is," Giertz says. "It turns off that voice in your head that tells you that you know exactly how the world works. Maybe a toothbrush helmet isn't the answer, but at least you're asking the question."

Simone Giertz: Why you should make useless things

Why you should make useless things

A 'toothbrush helmet' may not revolutionize dentistry, but it represents the joy and creativity in engineering's trial and error.

Turning off the pressure to always know the right answer can lead to unexpected discoveries and personal growth in engineering.

Embracing failure in robotic inventions eliminates performance anxiety, fostering innovation and learning free from fear.