DENSO has undertaken various initiatives to realize a working environment where humans and robots cooperate. However, our next challenge is the construction of a completely unmanned factory. This project, aiming to create the "worldʼs best manufacturing factory," leverages advanced technology and an integrated management system to produce robots based on COBOTTA PRO.

The project started with a comment from a team member: "I want to create a creepy robot that no one has ever seen before." Inspired by this idea, the designers began to explore this "creepiness."

It is defined as the eeriness exuded by robots that can survive in environments unsuitable for humans.
These robots, which can adapt to darkness and harsh conditions, and handle dangerous tasks calmly and swiftly, evoke a sense of unease because they are evolved through natural selection in unknown environments, resulting in unfamiliar appearances. Naturally, no one had a clear image of such a robot in their mind. To gain empathy, the designers endlessly imagined scenarios where these robots would operate in unknown environments and visualized their ideas.
In this peculiar work environment, where every drawing elicited a laugh and comments of "creepy," the designers visualized various scenarios: robots forming units according to tasks, teaming up to form lines, and even working in the dark with special equipment. They continued to explore robot design through repeated natural selection.

The design points include minimal joints between multiple robot arms and the strength when existing as a group. Inspired by tetrapods that dissipate strong waves on the coast, the geometric design and the impression of functioning as a group were intended to evoke a sense of eeriness while also conveying a systematic coolness shaped by natural selection.

The design was eventually updated to take into account the range of motion of the arm and balance, but by incorporating serial numbers and the DENSO logo, it resulted in a robot that embodies DENSOʼs identity and evokes a sense of attachment.

Once the design was completed, we simulated the actual movements using Unreal Engine (a real-time production tool). By doing so, we aimed to express a sense of pleasantness that surpasses the initial "creepiness." When the animation was played, it garnered different reactions than before, with enthusiastic responses.

At the shareholdersʼ meeting, which was the projectʼs goal, we prepared several scale models of the robots. Attendees could interact with them and get a sense of the new robots working in unknown environments, making the vision of these robots feel more tangible.

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