Mark Rober
Born 1980 · Age 45
American engineer, inventor, educator and YouTuber known for popular-science videos, viral engineering projects, former NASA and Apple engineer, founder of CrunchLabs and co-organizer of #TeamTrees and #TeamSeas.
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Life & Career Timeline
Born in Orange County, California
Mark Rober was born on March 11, 1980 in Orange County, California.
Early engineering interest — onion goggles (approx.)
As a child he developed an early interest in engineering; created goggles to avoid eye irritation when cutting onions (approximate year based on childhood anecdote).
BS in Mechanical Engineering from Brigham Young University
Graduated from BYU with a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering.
Joined NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
Started working as a mechanical engineer at JPL; began multi-mission hardware design and development career.
Contributed to Mars/Curiosity work (approx. start)
Around this period he spent the majority of a seven-year stint working on the Curiosity rover (exact start year approximate based on seven years of involvement).
YouTube channel started: 'Mark Rober' (years active from 2011)
Channel officially active from 2011 onwards, producing long-form STEM and engineering videos (monthly cadence typical).
Published case study: 'Capturing Knowledge via an "Intrapedia"'
Co-authored and published an IEEE conference paper/case study on using wiki technology to capture institutional knowledge at JPL.
Primary architect for 'JPL Wired' intrapedia
One of the primary architects of 'JPL Wired', a comprehensive knowledge-capture wiki for JPL.
Uploaded first YouTube video (two iPad Halloween costume)
Recorded and posted his first YouTube video showing a Halloween costume using two iPads to simulate a hole through his torso.
First viral video — 1.5M views in one day
The 'gaping hole in torso' costume video went viral, receiving ~1.5 million views in a single day.
Founded Digital Dudz (costume company)
Launched Digital Dudz to commercialize app-integrated Halloween costumes based on his visual-effect concept (Rober holds a patent for the concept).
Digital Dudz early revenues: $250k in first 3 weeks
The costume company took in $250,000 in revenue during its first three weeks of operations.
Digital Dudz sold to Morphsuits
Sold Digital Dudz to UK-based Morphsuits (exact sale price not publicly reported).
Left JPL (after ~9 years)
Ended a nine-year tenure at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory after designing and delivering hardware for multiple missions including AMT, GRAIL, SMAP, and Mars Science Laboratory.
Earned MS in Mechanical Engineering from USC
Completed a Master of Science in mechanical engineering at the University of Southern California.
Moved to Sunnyvale, California
Relocated residence to Sunnyvale while continuing to produce content and work in industry.
Joined Apple Special Projects Group (product designer)
Became a product designer at Apple Inc.'s Special Projects Group (worked on virtual reality projects among other things).
TEDx Talk: 'How To Come Up With Good Ideas' (TEDxYouth@ColumbiaSC)
Delivered a TEDx presentation on idea generation and creativity.
YouTube milestone: 1,000,000 subscribers
Reached 1 million subscribers on his YouTube channel (channel active since 2011).
Contributed to Men's Health (article contributions)
Contributed articles to Men's Health (date of contributions archived around 2016).
Built World's Largest Super Soaker (Guinness World Record)
Constructed what was reported as the world's largest functional water gun (Super Soaker) and broke a Guinness World Record for the largest functional water gun.
Named/Shortlisted for Streamy Awards (multiple years)
Multiple Streamy Award nominations and wins across years: nominated 2018; won 2019; won 2020 (Learning & Education); won 2021 (Science & Engineering) and other Streamy recognitions in 2022 and nominations in 2023.
Reportedly authored two VR patents for Apple
Reports emerged that Rober had been secretly working on virtual reality projects for Apple (on-board entertainment for self-driving cars) and authored two VR-related patents.
Released Glitter Bomb video — 25M views in one day
Posted viral 'glitter bomb' engineered package to catch parcel thieves; the video received ~25 million views in one day.
Admitted staged incidents and removed clips
Publicly removed two of five incidents in the glitter-bomb video after discovering two alleged thieves were friends of an assistant he had hired.
Co-launched #TeamTrees fundraiser with MrBeast
Joined MrBeast and other creators to launch #TeamTrees, aiming to raise $20 million to plant 20 million trees; campaign raised roughly $23M by its close.
Glitter Bomb follow-up with Macaulay Culkin
Released improved second-version glitter-bomb video, collaborating with Macaulay Culkin.
Left Apple (early 2020)
Ended his tenure at Apple's Special Projects Group (worked there from 2015 to early 2020).
Starred in Discovery Channel show 'Revengineers'
Appeared on the Discovery Channel hidden-camera series Revengineers alongside Jimmy Kimmel.
Collaborated with Jim Browning and Scammer Payback to expose call centers
Used glitter-bomb bait packages as part of a collaborative campaign to track and help arrest money mules and supervisors working with scam call centers; resulted in reported shutdowns and arrests (15 senior officials cited).
Glitter Bomb — third edition released
Posted a third-generation glitter-bomb video with further improvements and wider collaboration with scam-busting YouTubers and authorities.
Released 'Backyard Squirrel Maze' video
Published a viral backyard obstacle course video to deter squirrels; became one of his most-viewed videos (original reached 114M by Sept 2023).
Co-founded #TeamSeas with MrBeast
Launched #TeamSeas to remove trash from oceans and beaches; campaign raised over $34 million and committed to removing 1 lb of trash per dollar donated.
IET STEM Personality of the Year and Honorary Fellowship
The Institution of Engineering and Technology awarded him a one-off STEM Personality of the Year prize and later an Honorary Fellowship for contributions to engineering.
Hosted live stream with Jimmy Kimmel — raised $3M for NEXT for AUTISM
Co-hosted a live charity stream to support autism causes and raised $3 million.
Featured Forbes profile on creator career & TeamSeas
Interview/profile published on Forbes discussing his YouTube success, creator strategy, and philanthropic campaigns.
Webby Film & Video Person of the Year
Won the Webby Award for Film & Video Person of the Year.
Founded CrunchLabs (educational STEM company)
Launched CrunchLabs, providing hands-on STEM subscription build boxes and educational experiences for children.
Guest-hosted Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Appeared multiple times on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and guest-hosted the show in July 2022.
Discovery series 'This is Mark Rober' premieres
Starred in 'This is Mark Rober' on Discovery (series premiere April 2023).
Delivered MIT Commencement Address
Invited to deliver the 2023 commencement address at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
YouTube milestone: 50,000,000 subscribers (listed)
Reached the 50 million subscribers milestone (Wikipedia infobox lists 50M subscribers in 2024).
Received FIRST Robotics Competition Founder's Award
Presented with the Founder's Award at the FIRST Championship in recognition of expanding access to STEM and robotics programs.
Public statement on divorce
Posted on X (Twitter) that he had been divorced for 3.5 years (indicating the divorce occurred around early 2021).
Reported $40M clean water fundraiser with MrBeast (mentioned by All American Speakers)
All American Speakers Bureau page mentions that in 2025 Rober and MrBeast launched a $40M fundraiser for clean water (external source listing).
YouTube scale update: 70,000,000 subscribers and 13.4B views (infobox, Aug 2025)
Wikipedia infobox updated to show 70.0 million subscribers and 13.4 billion views (as-of Aug 1, 2025 update).
Key Achievement Ages
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