Paulette Richards survived a ten month stint in Senegal as a 2013/ 2014 Fulbright Scholar without contracting any tropical diseases, but sometime during her service as an artist in residence at the Institut français de Saint Louis, the puppet bug bit her hard. After returning to Atlanta she became a docent in the Worlds of Puppetry Museum at the Center for Puppetry Arts.
When fellow members of Decatur Makers introduced her to Arduino microprocessors and stepper motors, she immediately thought of the animatronic dogs and Doozers in the Henson gallery at the museum and began designing her own rudimentary robots.
Richards has taught animatronic puppetry workshops at Decatur Makers, the Dekalb County Public Library, the Center for Puppetry Arts, and the Puppeteers of America 2017 National Festival.
During the 2017/2018 academic year she worked for Georgia Tech’s Center for Education Integrating Science, Math, and Computing as an Innovator in Residence at Hollis Innovation Academy.
Her mission in this encore career is to engage students who might not otherwise see themselves as innovators in STEM disciplines through animatronic puppetry.