The short answer.
Robots & Pencils is a digital product studio. They design and build AI-powered software for clients - mobile apps, web apps, conversational AI, custom enterprise tools. The deliverable is usually a working product.
Average Robot is a change management firm for the AI transformation of the workplace. We diagnose why AI investment is not converting into value inside your organization and design the people, process, and platform strategy to fix it. The deliverable is alignment, not software.
One builds AI. The other gets AI adopted. Both jobs are real. Most organizations need both at some point.
Who they are.
Robots & Pencils is a North American digital product agency that has been building software for client brands for more than a decade. Their AI practice is an extension of that product work - applying generative AI, conversational AI, and machine learning inside the apps and tools they ship for clients. They publish their work at robotsandpencils.com.
The model is engineering-led. Strategists, designers, and engineers work together to scope, build, and launch a product. If you have ever hired a digital agency to build something new for you, the engagement shape will be familiar.
Who we are.
Average Robot is a San Francisco-based change management firm founded by Matt Perry, a former marketing and brand leader, with Rob Cannon, PhD, a behavioral scientist focused on workforce adoption of AI. We co-authored The Elephant in the Algorithm, a playbook for marketing, creative, and talent leaders navigating AI.
We do not implement technology. We run a 3P diagnostic - People, Process, Platform - to find where AI adoption is stalling, then design a roadmap your teams will actually use. We lead the people and process side and orchestrate the technology side through a vetted partner network when needed.
Where each of us wins.
Pick Robots & Pencils when
- You need to build, design, or ship an AI-powered product or feature.
- The brief calls for engineers, designers, and product managers in the room.
- You have a clear product vision and need a studio that can execute it.
- The success metric is a working application in market.
Pick Average Robot when
- Your AI investment is real but the return is not showing up.
- Adoption inside your teams is patchy, performative, or stalled.
- You need to align business strategy, AI strategy, and customer strategy.
- The success metric is teams moving from AI swirl to strategic intent.
How the engagements differ.
A Robots & Pencils engagement looks like a product build. Discovery, design sprints, engineering, QA, release. Timelines run in months. The team is a product team. The artifact is software.
An Average Robot engagement looks like change work. The free AI Alignment Snapshot is an eight-minute leader survey. The AI Alignment Playbook is a done-with-you engagement starting at $4,999 that gives a leader and team a personalized read and a 90-day plan. The AI Alignment Partnership is a custom engagement for senior leaders aligning AI across multiple teams or a whole division. The artifact is alignment - across leadership, teams, workflows, and tools.
Working with both.
The two firms solve different problems. Average Robot has referred clients to product studios when the brief turned out to need software. Product studios refer clients to change firms when the software was built but nobody adopted it.
If you are not sure which job you are buying, that is itself a useful signal. A 45-minute discovery call will get you to a clear answer faster than another round of internal debate.
Questions people ask.
Is Average Robot a software development shop like Robots & Pencils?
No. Robots & Pencils builds AI-powered products and applications. Average Robot is a change management firm. We diagnose where AI adoption is breaking inside an organization across people, process, and platform, and we design the strategy to fix it. We do not write production code.
When should we hire Robots & Pencils instead of Average Robot?
When the work is to design, build, or ship an AI-powered product, application, or internal tool, you want a product studio. Robots & Pencils and firms like it are built for that. Hire us when the AI tools are already in place and the question is why your teams are not getting value from them.
Can the two firms work together on the same engagement?
Yes. The product team builds the AI experience. The change team aligns the people, the process, and the leadership around it. The two jobs are complementary. We have referred clients to product studios when the brief turned out to need software, not change.
Who do you work with most often?
Marketing, creative, and talent leaders inside mid-market organizations, typically between $40 million and $150 million in revenue. The work spans financial services, energy, consumer, and technology, but the buyer is almost always a CMO, CCO, or CHRO whose AI spend has outrun their AI strategy.
What does Average Robot actually deliver?
A read on where your AI investment is creating value and where it is just cost, a strategy that aligns your business strategy, your AI, and your customers, and a plan your teams will actually adopt. Delivery formats range from a free AI Alignment Snapshot to the AI Alignment Partnership for ongoing work.