Robot design has changed so much over the years!

These days you seem to have three prevailing groups of robots that continue to make their presence felt: mecha, retro-robo, contemporary

Mecha is the term given to robots (more precisely gigantic robot-like battle armour) that come from a Japanese animation origin, otherwise known as anime.

Mecha have become seriously popular, especially since the ‘robotic uprising’ of the late 90’s (Flight of the Conchordes would be proud) when anime/manga really struck Western audiences with its epic might. This kind of robot art was vastly different from what most people were used to in the West and this ‘fresh’ take on robots was welcomed with open arms by robot lovers everywhere. These days it seems that every 3^rd robot design I see has its roots in anime.

Take a look at this perfect example of an anime style robot design. Ahbiasaaja’s illustration ‘And outcome the Wolf’ shows the scale that some of these mecha can reach (which can in actual fact get much, much larger). Most diehard fans will usually list mecha such as those from Macross and Gundam fame, as your stereotypical mecha designs.

The other aspect of Ahbiasaaja’s design is the fact that it shows a human soldier, standing quietly, almost seemingly appreciating the scene of the giant mech. Mecha are tools used by humans! They are for the most part, not sentient machines with advanced ‘artificial intelligence’. The future is often seen as a time where gigantic robotic creations are used by humanity as weapons or simply as a part of industry for practical use. This symbiosis of man-and-machine working together, on a daily basis, more prevalent than in Japanese mecha illustration!

Retro-robo is the kind of robot design that our parents and grandparents remember from their youth. Stretching as far back as the weird and wonderful rounded robots during Asimov’s time, to the shapes of the 80’s, I would consider all of these to be retro. The humanoid style of the time, such as the C-3PO automaton of Star Wars, was a very popular trend in robot design that continues today.

The concept of realistic humanoid robots has been a passion of sci-fi lovers the world over. In more contemporary times the humanoid automaton has been likened to robots that have a structure identical to their human creators (also a very popular trend in anime/manga).
The retro robot is still a huge source of inspiration for designers. The classical, almost humorous style (in our current opinions) of yesteryears robots, is mega unique and can often be seen employed in illustrations where the designer wants you to pick-up on a specific feeling.

Take for example this wicked robot design by Mathieu Leyssenne, simply entitled, ‘Robot’.
This is undoubtedly a retro-robo. The rounded shapes of the robot itself and the single red beam of light (War of the Worlds), not to mention the unfriendly disposition are all very retro in nature. Of course it helps that there is an old school ‘bubble headed ray gun wielding’ space adventurer in the image too, hehehe.

Finally, contemporary robot design. Wow, this is a rather difficult category to define. The reason for this is the fact that the robotic design trends of the past all seem to have been integrated into what we term modern robot design. Retro, and more recently anime, have totally entrenched themselves in the minds of designers and undoubtedly the influence has become inescapable….nothing wrong with this at all, this is the evolution of robot design!

I found this awesome illustration of the Star Wars B-2 Super Battle Droid. This is the exact kind of hybrid robot that incorporates a retro aesthetic with that of the anime influence. While this droid didn’t exactly look super hot in the movie, this illustration does look pretty awesome. I’m afraid I could not find the designers name, apologies there…anybody out there know his name?

Where do you think robot design will go in the future? Have you got any awesome examples of robots that you feel don’t fit any of these 3 categories…I would really love to see them.

R0b0t5-4-3v3r!