About

Stuff Made Here is the YouTube channel of Shane Wighton, an American engineer. On the channel, Wighton showcases highly niche but highly functional robots, such as a basketball hoop that will not let a person miss a basketball shot and a robot that gives a haircut. The channel proved highly popular, gaining over 4.29 million subscribers in three years.

History

Stuff Made Here launched on March 3rd, 2020.^[1] The channel features engineer Shane Wighton testing out robots created for niche purposes. On March 4th, 2020, he uploaded his first video, which used plastic to bend steel. The video gained over 1.3 million views in three and a half years (shown below).

Wighton first went viral with an April 17th, 2020 video, showcasing a basketball hoop backboard that would always result in making a bank shot, gaining over 8.6 million views in three and a half years (shown below, left). It was the first of several basketball-themed inventions Wighton created. On September 9th, 2020, he created a basketball hoop that would independently move so that it would always catch a shot basketball, gaining over 27 million views in three years (shown below, right). To date, it is his most popular video.

Online Presence

Stuff Made Here developed a wide following in the three years since the channel launched. As of August 23rd, 2023, the channel has 4.29 million subscribers.^[1] His Twitter account,^[2] launched in May 2020, acquired 15,000 subscribers over the course of three years. The channel's subreddit, /r/StuffMadeHere,^[3] launched on October 5th, 2020 and received 5,300 subscribers in three years.

His videos have also received media attention. His haircutting robot, which would later become part of a meme, was covered by Cnet^[4] and other media publications. His "can't-miss" basketball hoop was covered by The Verge.^[5]

Better, Cheaper Haircuts Are Coming To A Barber Near You

Better, Cheaper Haircuts Are Coming To A Barber Near You is a copypasta that emerged in mockery of a Twitter user's commentary on a video made by YouTuber Stuff Made Here in which a robot performs a haircut. Many users felt the commentary about the video didn't match the quality of the resulting haircut and subsequently reposted the text with humorous images as it trended on X as a meme in late August 2023.

On July 14th, 2020, the YouTube channel StuffMadeHere posted a video featuring a hair-cutting robot, gaining over 7.7 million views in three years. The video was not intended to showcase a potential commercial-use robot replacement for professional barbers.

On August 20th, 2023, Twitter user @APompliano reposted the video on their Twitter account, writing, "Better, cheaper haircuts are coming to a barber shop near you. Fighting technological progress is a losing strategy, so you are better off embracing it." The tweet gained over 400 retweets, 3,600 likes and 2,400 quote tweets in one day.

Search Interest

External References