On the topic of humanoid robot design, here’s a video by designer Kota Nezu that would be great to see subtitled. In the last video he discussed his work on ZMP’s RoboCar; this time he dishes on the e-nuvo HUMANOID.  Sure, it’s all Japanese but you can see some cool preliminary sketches that indicate the different directions he explored when designing the robot, a process which appears to have begun in April of 2009.  From what I could make out, one of the primary hurdles was coming up with a unique face cover for the robot’s head.  It’s also interesting to see how early he hit upon the idea of an exoskeleton which was made up of floating congruent leaf-like shapes which ended up defining the look of the robot.  These exoskeletal parts had to be beautiful while also allowing access to the inner mechanisms.

Video (mirror):

Note the importance placed on aesthetics and how Kota Nezu’s talents have transformed what would normally be quite a bland and impersonal piece of machinery into something with a mysterious personality.  Bring talented artists and designers on board your robotics projects!  See the presentation slides as stills after the break.

[source: ZMP @ YouTube] & [ZNUG Design]

Media:

Image credits:
Kota Nezu / ZNUG Design