what sources of inspiration do you draw from to design robots? or just in general what do you take into consideration when you are designing one?
I consider what kind of robot it is, or what it was made to do, and then I try to figure out how it would move. A high-mobility robot needs sophisticated joints and sleeker limbs, but if your robot is something like a bartender, it probably doesn’t need to walk extremely well. Of course, I don’t like to set hard and fast rules and trap myself in a box, those are just fun things to consider while designing.
If it’s a humanoid robot, which is one of my favorites to design, I consider how human it’s meant to look. Is this a charming brick-shaped tank with only the vague implication of facial features, or is this a scary smiling plastic mannequin looking abomination that makes kids cry from behind the grocery store counter? I like both! Deciding whether you want to lean more utilitarian / industrial or lifelike is the fun part because they each have so much to offer.
To be honest, it’s hard for me to point to one specific piece of media with The Coolest Robots because my own tastes are pretty specific and designs can be sooo hit or miss. I’m inspired by a lot of the earlier visions of robots, though. That awkward phase of clunky limbs and vast, smooth metal plates and astronaut silhouettes is really appealing to me. Metropolis 1927 is responsible for one of my favorite ever robots:
It’s very humanoid in shape, but not necessarily in the way it moves [at least in the scenes where it looks like a robot and not Maria], giving it more of a statue vibe. This design REALLY appeals to me because of that: it reads visually like a robot that was made just for the sake of being made, stands tall and stiff like a trophy. It’s just kind of uncomfortable. Ironically, it looks more creepy and dead because of how hard it tries to appear human. That’s a design philosophy I can REALLY get behind and the resulting effect is so exciting.
On the most extreme end of the scale, there’s Data. Being played by an actor in makeup, he comes across as much more natural and lifelike on screen, but conceptually, the nature of his design is super off-putting. Can you imagine actually meeting a machine that looks and moves this much like a human??
I think Data is an example of a robot who would realistically be, like, deep into the uncanny valley. He’s definitely charming and we all love him, but he would have a deeply unnerving effect on anyone unused to seeing an android. It’s no fun at all to imagine that Dr. Soong was able to create an imitation of life completely indistinguishable from a human being. I don’t even know where I’m going with this I just think he’s neat LAWL
In conclusion, I personally like designing robots with the goal of employing a strong element of believability, if not realism. I don’t want to constrain myself to nitty-gritty scientific technicalities and get bogged down in cross-referencing with reality, but I want people to look at my robots and believe they’re solid and be able to imagine at one glance how they’d look in motion. I like designing robots who look and move like machines with personalities. To me, that is way more rewarding than hyperrealistic androids who appear flesh-and-blood normal [because at that point, what is the point?]
