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Ex-NASA engineer Mark Rober teams up with Netflix and the launch of his iconic science and engineering teaching ‘Mark Rober’s CrunchLabs’ Netflix. The first season of the series is now available for streaming, so Rober’s educational entertainment, which is his trademark, is now accessible by the world’s audience on the platform. The switch marks a significant upscaling for Rober, who is a creative, investigative person and has a large social media following.
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Netflix Family’s official post contained a video of Rober explaining the idea. ‘I am Mark Rober and I’m a mechanical engineer with NASA background,’ he starts, giving a taste of the mixture of high-level science and fun that is so much his style. He calls his CrunchLabs project a ‘Willie Wonka engineering factory,’ where he and his team produce toys that help kids think and act like engineers. The series promises to gather his top-notch tests and creations and thus offer a very good experience for the families.
The reaction to the news was overwhelmingly positive and many viewers immediately showed their eagerness for the new content. A parent said, ‘My kids will be so happy!’ Another one said, ‘My family is looking forward to exploring!!’ One user who shared the same feeling wrote, ‘Awesome! My family is always waiting for your videos!’ This is an indication of the strong family-oriented community that Rober has built throughout his 15-year career.
One message among congratulatory ones was the most profound and touching. A mother of Ukrainian descent told a captivating tale about how significant Rober’s videos are in her family life. ‘You can’t even guess how many times you rescue my little boy from the “hellish attacks” of our neighbors—but in the nicest possible way,’ she said and added that they were inspired by Rober’s universe during the frequent power cuts. She called his content a ‘happy and calming’ place where ‘curiosity triumphs over fear and science is an adventure even in the dark.’ Being a physicist in the process of her Ph.D., she couldn’t help but commend Rober’s technique, asserting that he teaches ‘both children and adults that science is imagination, play, and the courage to ask the right questions.’ The birthday wish that she sent to Rober, accompanied by her heartfelt request for a message for her son’s forthcoming fifth birthday, illustrated the strong personal bond that a lot of people have with Rober’s work.
The news was the cause of some light-and-funny comments. One spectator said, ‘Mark, you don’t need a baseball cap anymore. You are done,’ a humorous reference to Rober’s signature headgear and his new level of mainstream success. The fact that the international dimension of his public was already very evident is proved by a comment from Colombia: ‘Te vemos desde Colombia con mis hijitos’ (we see you from Colombia with my little kids).
However, some comments were not entirely positive. A user raised the question about the Netflix show and said, ‘Yo but don’t you have a YouTube channel we can just watch your videos there?’ In response, another user indicated, ‘Not everyone uses YouTube,’ thus highlighting the strategic advantage of switching to another platform—you are likely to reach a broader, maybe less tech-savvy family audience. Another user asked how often Rober talks about his NASA background compared to how long he actually has been there, which led to a clarifying comment about his nine-year stint at the space agency before he transitioned to full-time content creation.
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Mark Rober’s journey from an engineer at NASA to a global science communicator has always meant to make engineering appealing and easy to understand. Rober’s ‘CrunchLabs’ coming to Netflix is a big pat on the back to him confirming his position among the kids’ and educational entertainers’ ranks. Rober is now much nearer to his goal of having a global audience of small builders, thinkers, and explorers through the Internet while still taking along the current kids and teachers’ audience with him. The reactions from his audience that are excited yet personal are a signal that his effective mix of fun and learning is still very strong. In other news, Netflix announces one last epic bike ride for Stranger Things final season. Rober is known for his wild experiments, like the time he climbed on top of a moving train for a wild science experiment. He also revealed the shocking secret behind spider leg movement and recreated the famous Alcatraz escape with Cleo Abram and Johnny Harris. Additionally, he revealed the first man-made object to break the sound barrier.
