The Electric State
Netflix came to us with the idea to create real-life characters from their CGI film, the Electric State. These walking, talking billboards took the world on an advertisement campaign; opening panels, interacting with fans, and even broadcast live on air to spread the just how much they hate humans.
With a few crucial requirements set from the team, the bots needed to walk, talk, display trailers and content, as well as pack up for travel across the world.
I took heavy inspiration from Theo Jansen’s stranbeest mechanism, decoupling and splitting it for controllable locomotion. With a working prototype and a control scheme figured out, I now had the even wilder task of making them look old, beat-up, and somewhat personable. Oh yeah, and we had to puppeteer too.
From CAD to rough wooden prototypes, I was able to prototype quickly enough to start ordering my initial aluminum prototypes in the first month. As the amount of legs grew, so did the weight, torque on the motors, and the client’s ambitions and scope creep. In version 1.0, I had pivoted from 4 to 8 legs, added a rotating 150lb glass-bonded TV, moved to chain drive, and fit as many batteries between the 80/20 frame as I could.
As I was finishing the first version of the base, I started to draft how these things would look, and how we’d go about making them. With all of the mechanics to avoid, limited mounting locations, and scenic pieces acting as structural members, the entire armor set was modeled in solid bodies and painstakingly sculpted with ridged modeling tools. Working with Mcguffin Makers, we landed on carbon-fiber 3D printed shell pieces, rigidized with fiberglass, and painted by the man who did the armor on the Mandolorian.
As that was all going on, I developed the control system to be as simple to fix and operate in the field, while maintaining enough headroom for additions. There were many additions. From animatronic eyes, a real-fake VCR, AC inverter system, speakers, and full mini-pc to run a remote messaging and triggering system, we ended up filling any remaining space left.
After all that, two additional show bots were created after the initial prototype; giving us wirelessly-controlled 800lb walking death machines. We had to practice putting them together, taking them apart, driving, puppeteering, and communicating in out shop before the big tour.
And that kicked off our tour. With 6 months of pre-production, we shipped the robots off to New York. We had a packed schedule with Netflix, starting at a live broadcast on the Today Show, moving to shoot some bumpers with the ES cast on a soundstage, walking the streets of New York, and ending up at New York Comicon; kicking off the announcement for the film release, and interacting with fans live.
After the blur that was New York, we headed to London to walk the streets and open a panel at London MCM, before sending them straight to Lucca, Italy where we attended Lucca Comic and Games, one of Europe’s largest fan events.
