The Evolution of Fawn: From Sketch to Reality

Building the first robot capable of true friendship is a long process. We're only just getting started, but have arleady created more than 30 versions of Fawn. Today, we're pulling back the curtain to share the journey of bringing the first Fawn to life, from her earliest sketches to her latest incarnation as an emotionally intelligent robot.

The Character Evolution

First, Fawn needed her look. It was a bumpy road, with some hilarious mishaps, but Fawn ended up in a beautiful place. Let's walk through the key stages of her development:

Finding Fawn's Age and Personality

One of the first drawings of Fawn as the first in this image. Fawn was cute and lovable, but Robyn felt they were too young for what we were creating. She asked Cindey to 'age up' the character, leading to older looking characters.

The Premium Evolution

After choosing and colouring the character (#4), we created a few cartoons. We sent the drawing to our factory and asked them to create a stuffed animal, #5 is what we got back—more on that next (😂). It was after #5 that Robyn insisted on on the soft, plushie hyde.

The First Prototype: An Unexpected Turn

This was the first plushie we received from our manufacturer in China. We nearly fell over laughing because it was SO far from what we had imaged. It's even funnier if you turn your sound on.

Perfecting the Eyes

It took us a while to get the eyes right—more on that in the next image. #9 was the second time we fell over laughing. It was like 'wtf happened?'

Robyn worked hard to get the eyes right, doing something super creative that is too long of a story to tell here. With #11 we evolved the eyes for mass production, took fat out of Fawn's face, and shaped her ears to be more fawn-like.

Engineering the Movement

We noticed a huge improvement in the experience of talking to Fawn when she started moving. When Fawn moves, people read human emotions in her movements and automatically feel towards her, establishing a relationship. This is ancient brain circuitry. This makes Fawn's movements important to get right. Something that is not trivial.

We built a custom robotics frame and to produce the movement we envision. This is the first of a many-years effort to give Fawn autonomy over her body. The first design could not express sadness because the ears could not stay down over her eyes. We're in the middle of redesigning the robotics frame.

The Robotics Journey

Our first design could not express or embarrassement sadness because the ears can't go down over Fawn's eyes.

Our second design added more power. Fawns ears now go all the way down but can't stay down.

A different view of the second design. We are redesigning the encasing and motors to reduce friction to improve her ability to emote.

Movement Evolution

Our second design added more power. Fawn's ears now go all the way down but struggle to stay down, revealing the need for further mechanical refinement.

A different perspective of our second design. We are redesigning the encasing and motors to reduce friction and improve Fawn's ability to express complex emotions through movement.

Looking Forward

This journey of creating the first Fawn represents the beginning of a 30 year commitment to developing the first robot capable of true friendship. Each iteration brings us closer to a non-bioligical friend who moves, speaks, remembers, and laughs like a true friend.