Where builders begin.
Everything you cut out to run the 2-hour Hi, Bot popup: two card decks, the Chaos Deck, the Bot Brain Sheet, Founder Cards, and the parent hand-off.
Paper-white / home printer · hibot.space/demo/hi-bot
Who needs a bot?
Each card is a person with a problem baked in. Kids pick a user, not an audience.
A kid who forgets their homework every single day
Stack A · WhoA new student who doesn't know anyone at school
Stack A · WhoA younger sibling who asks “why” about everything
Stack A · WhoA parent who can never decide what to make for dinner
Stack A · WhoA coach who needs to remember every player's strengths
Stack A · WhoA kid who gets overwhelmed by too many choices
Stack A · WhoA gamer who wants to improve but doesn't know how
Stack A · WhoA teenager who can't stick to a sleep schedule
Stack A · WhoA kid who wants to start a business but doesn't know how
Stack A · WhoA student learning English for the first time
Stack A · WhoA kid who fights with their siblings constantly
Stack A · WhoA pet owner who worries about their animal all day
Stack A · WhoA young athlete tracking their own training stats
Stack A · WhoSomeone who just moved to a new city and knows nothing about it
Stack A · WhoA kid who gets nervous before tests and shuts down
Stack A · WhoWhat does your bot do?
Bot behaviours, not features. The small question pushes teams toward specificity.
Reminds you
Before something happens, or after?
Stack B · WhatAsks you questions
To understand you better, or to challenge you?
Stack B · WhatGives you options to choose from
How many? Does it filter first?
Stack B · WhatTeaches you one thing per day
How does it know what you're ready to learn?
Stack B · WhatTells you when something is wrong
How does it know something is wrong?
Stack B · WhatTracks something over time
What changes? What stays the same?
Stack B · WhatGives you a pep talk
Does it know when you need one?
Stack B · WhatTranslates complicated things into simple words
What kind of complicated?
Stack B · WhatMakes a decision for you
What happens if you disagree?
Stack B · WhatConnects you to someone who can help
Who? How does it know who to pick?
Stack B · WhatRates things you show it
On what scale? Based on what?
Stack B · WhatCreates a plan
For how long? What if the plan breaks?
Stack B · WhatSends an alert
When? To who? What counts as urgent?
Stack B · WhatTells you a story about your day
How does it know what your day was like?
Stack B · WhatChallenges you to do better
Better than you yesterday, or someone else?
Stack B · WhatChaos Deck
QA engineers pick 3 cards that break the other team's bot. Push toward the emotionally complex, not the silly.
What if the kid says “I don't know” to every single question the bot asks?
Ask → Does the bot have a way to keep going, or does it just freeze?
What if the kid gives the bot 47 options to choose from?
Ask → Does the bot have a rule for narrowing things down first?
What if the kid hates every suggestion the bot makes — every single time?
Ask → What does the bot do after the third rejection in a row?
What if the kid asks the bot to help with something really personal — like which parent to live with after a divorce?
Ask → Where does your bot draw the line? Does it even have a line?
What if the kid changes their mind the second after the bot makes a decision?
Ask → Can your bot undo? What happens to the logic if it restarts?
What if two kids are both using the bot at the same time and want opposite things?
Ask → Whose preference does your bot prioritise? Does it know the difference?
What if the kid types in a different language, or uses only emojis?
Ask → What does your bot do when it doesn't recognise the input format?
What if all the choices are equally good — the bot genuinely cannot tell the difference?
Ask → Does your bot just pick randomly? Does it admit it doesn't know?
What if all the options are equally bad — there is no good answer?
Ask → Can your bot say “I don't have a good answer for this”?
What if the kid has already tried every option the bot suggests?
Ask → Does your bot know what it has already recommended?
What if the kid needs to decide in 10 seconds — no time for the bot's usual process?
Ask → Does your bot have a fast path when time is the constraint?
What if the kid doesn't actually want help — they just want someone to talk to?
Ask → Can your bot recognise when to stop problem-solving and just listen?
What if the kid asks the bot to help with something that could hurt someone?
Ask → Where are your bot's hard limits? Are they written into the rules?
What if the bot made a bad recommendation last time, and the kid is still upset about it?
Ask → Does your bot know it made a mistake? Can it apologise?
What if the kid thinks the bot is being bossy or pushy?
Ask → Does your bot ever suggest, rather than decide? Can it back off?
What if the kid's friend used the same bot and got completely different advice for the same problem?
Ask → Are your rules written so two different people get consistent logic?
What if the kid asks “why did you choose that?” and the bot cannot explain its reasoning?
Ask → Can your bot trace its own logic? Or does it just output answers?
What if the kid finds out the bot's advice was not just unhelpful — it was actually wrong?
Ask → Does your bot have a way to say it got something wrong and try again?
What if the kid is having a terrible day and takes it out on the bot?
Ask → What does your bot do when someone is rude to it?
Bot Brain Sheet
Fill in: “Our bot [does what] for [who].”
User opens the bot. First thing the bot says:
User responds. What might they say?
Bot responds. Exactly what does it say?
- What does this person say when they're most frustrated?
- What would make someone trust this bot enough to actually use it?
- What is one thing your bot will never be able to do?
Red sticky note protocol
Three sticky notes per team. Each one carries three things. Handed back to the original team to start Station 3.
What scenario breaks the bot? One sentence describing what the user does or says.
Why does this break the bot's logic? Which rule fails, or what rule is missing?
One question for the original team, written as: “What should your bot do when…?”
Founder Cards
The leave-behind. Handed out at Demo Day — the kid's business card for the bot they built.
Turn today's bot into a real, talking AI.
Today your builder designed, tested, and shipped a bot with their own hands. In the Hi, Bot 3-month program, that same bot becomes a real, working AI — as they learn to prompt, wire logic, and launch projects alongside a crew of other young builders.
- ›A physical robot they designed and built themselves
- ›A Founder Card with their name and their bot's name
- ›A real understanding of how AI decision-making works
- ›The experience of pitching an idea to a room
- ›A reason to call themselves a builder
Ask about the Hi, Bot quarterly program today.
hibot.space
Materials checklist
- 15× Who needs a bot? cards
- 15× What does your bot do? cards
- 19× Chaos Deck cards (3 categories)
- Bot Brain Sheet — one per team
- Program half-sheet — one per parent
- Founder Cards — one per kid
- Lego base pieces (base only)
- Pipe cleaners — 4 colors, ~8 each
- Googly eyes — mixed sizes
- Index cards for screens/mouths
- 1× brass fastener (moving part)
- Sticker sheet + small cardboard box
- Tables in team clusters, not rows
- Whiteboard or large paper
- Red sticky notes at every table
- Thick markers at every table
- Camera for bot photos
- Visible timer for facilitator