I’ve been so impressed by this whole cubelets idea for modular robotics.
Today’s invention is a response to their requirement for some novel, sustainable packaging.
Your new cubelets are delivered in an outer cardboard box (shown in grey but it could be suitably coloured/ branded). For simplicity, there is only one size of outer box -big enough to hold 20 cubelets -plus 20 empty cubelet-sized inner boxes (postage charges tend to be based on mass, not volume).
If you ordered some smaller number of robot cubes, n, the outer will also contain 40-n inner boxes. These act as padding to protect the bots from impact and they are also just big enough to store individual bots on one’s shelf at home.
When the outer is emptied, it can be folded and secured as a flat package by a tang which slides into a slot. If you have spare inners, these too can be folded flat and placed in the folded outer. Before returning to the factory to be reused, the box holder can identify themselves via a label on the outside (or even inside) of the box, thus encouraging subsequent customers not to ‘break the chain’ of goodwill and send their empty box back home.
