As a puppeteer, Rob attends many puppetry festivals. In 1997, while standing in line for a show on the third day of a National Festival, he was feeling burnt out and over-stimulated. Duke Kraus, a fellow puppeteer, showed Rob a little gizmo made from tongue depressors with a face drawn on the front. As Duke moved his thumb, the top of the head of this little gizmo moved up and down - Rob was instantly intrigued.

As Rob examined Duke's novel puppet, he began to get ideas to "dress it up a little". Since, as a rule, puppeteers love sharing their ideas and love to see them expanded upon by other puppeteers, Duke was quite excited by the idea of Rob working with the idea. Rob came up with several designs, produced a few puppets, and showed them to Duke. Together, they named the new puppets "Pop-up Puppets"

Duke passed away in 1998, but the legacy of the Pop-up Puppet lives on in Rob, who continues to make the puppets for sale and to teach the building techniques to students and teachers. Rob has also written an article about the Pop-up Puppets for the Puppeteers of America Journal and is currently working on a book and a DVD to help spread the magic of these whimsical characters around the world.

Since 2004, Planet of the Puppets has it's home in the daystall craft tables of Seattle's famous Pike Place Market.