We’re working on the HaRoCo-12, but I wanted to make a quick post about our first baby, the HaRoCo-1.

^ My initial sketches of the HaRoCo-1

When we built the HaRoCo-1, we wanted to test if it was possible to bring a critter to life with only eyebrows and legs. I remember describing the little gumdrop shape of the body to Richard and miming its ability to boost itself up, look at you, and blink. “I think I can do it with only five servos,” I said.

^ The HaRoCo-1 without its fur, sitting next to its eyebrows.

HaRoCo-1 isn’t designed to be easily handled and carried; for maximum expressiveness he needs to be sitting on a flat surface. (The design elements for easy carrying and flexible location would come in later models.) But we found that his basic expressions were pretty effective. The very act of blinking had an emotional effect.

Ultimately, HaRoCo-1 was a test for the power of expressions. We already knew we could fake life using only three servos, but I wanted to try something with more specificity of expression. I wanted to try something with a face.

Robot critters with articulated faces are way harder to animate than critters without, but the basic principles stay the same. I used the same basic structure I talked about when I made the Fur Worm: purpose, emotion and story; consistency, randomness, and context.

^ My talk with the Fur Worm, sorry about that end bit.

But the more human-like you get, the more difficult it is to program coherent “randomness” into your behaviors. In the Fur Worm, I’d randomize which motors moved, and also randomize the amplitude and speed of the motion within a given range. As you squeezed him longer, that range would change.

Using the same software on the HaRoCo-1 would make it look like he was having a seizure. So I needed new “ranges,” new inputs, and more specific moods. For HaRoCo-1 (and all its facial-expressing progeny), the randomness of the motion has to come in categories, and the categories have to be organized and skewed by mood. So in the end, HaRoCo-1 moves in different ways based on how he “feels,” just like you and me.

^HaRoCo-1 getting hangry about his battery being low

Until next time! <3