How a homemade robot turned a Shropshire couple's lives around
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Posted: Fri 14th Feb 2025
When hard-working ex-forces helicopter engineer Andy Laverton suffered a short bout of depression in 2022, he found sanctuary in his garden shed by making robots out of scrap metal.
The loveable little robots he designed not only helped him regain his mental health but also sparked an idea that changed the couple’s lives.
Andy and his wife Lotty now sell their bespoke robot sculptures, christened The Berts, on their own Weebert’s World website, as well as nicely designed merchandise, including T-shirts and prints.
@enterprisenation Meet Lotty and Andy Laverton, founders of @we_are_bert 🤖 Using unique robot sculptures made from rubbish, We Are Bert is on a mission to inspire the next generation of innovators and engineers. Lotty and Andy share their top tip for new businesses and how the #BusinessConnected programme has benefitted their business 🚀 Head to the link in our bio to sign up to business.connected now 🔗 @vodafonebusinessuk @jpmorgan @dropbox @constantcontact #smallbusiness #businesstips #networking ♬ original sound - Enterprise Nation
Bringing to life
Former public sector worker Lotty was so taken with the character they named after her grandfather Bert, she wrote a book about it and Weebert’s adventures were brought to life.
The Shrewsbury-based couple, who now dedicate themselves full-time to the business, are working with an animation company to pitch their idea for a children’s TV series.
The show will feature Weebert using fun stories to demystify science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) for a new generation.
Lotty says:
“As I watched the numbers of scrap art robot sculptures made by Andy grow, they just naturally became our new focus in so many ways.
“I began to realise each one was different, with its own personality. I just knew I had to tell their stories, so I picked up a pen and paper and the stories of Weebert and his adventures poured onto the pages.
“STEM subjects are central to Weebert – he's all about understanding science and he was born out of Andy’s need to express himself through his brilliant engineering skills.
“We felt he would be perfect to help create a spark in young minds and nurture a deep curiosity for STEM subjects from as early as pre-school.”
A solution for every problem
There was just one problem – the couple had no business experience.
They set about increasing their skills by joining Enterprise Nation and used the resources on the website, including business.connected – a free training programme of webinars, workshops and e-learning modules with Vodafone – to learn as much as they could to kickstart the digital side of the business.
Lotty says:
“We knew we were onto something, but we really had no idea where to start. We worked through the workshops and e-learning, we spent most lunchtimes on webinars and linked up to advisers who helped us get started.
“We also found our production company via the programme.”
Emma Jones CBE, founder and CEO of Enterprise Nation, says:
“This is a wonderful story to hear and demonstrates how entrepreneurship can enrich people’s lives at any stage in their career and sometimes when you least expect it.
“They knew they needed to boost their skills to give themselves the best chance to build and grow their business. We are seeing more and more people starting businesses with a strong sense of community purpose.
“Tools like business.connected are helping to bring these businesses literally to life.”
Fast forward and Weebert’s World is ready to go, even his intellectual property (IP) is trademarked.
Lotty adds:
“That’s another thing we had no idea we needed to do and found out via the business.connected programme.
“We can’t wait to see where Weebert takes us next.”
Free video training, exclusive offers and workshops
The business.connected hub is a free online training programme of workshops, webinars and e-learning modules designed to help businesses go digital and adopt new technology.
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