W+K / Needybot

Agency: Wieden+Kennedy

My role: 3D Design of Needybot including engineering internal and external structure, 3D printing and fabrication.

I worked closely with W+K Lodge to design Needybot’s outer shell and then internal structure. The original intention was for Needybot to be made out of a hard outer shell. However during the design and testing phase we discovered a weight restriction limiting what the base platform could carry over bumps and uneven terrain. As a solution we turned to a lighter weight lattice structure of which the components could be 3D printed in-house. And inevitably one of us mused, “Hey, why not cloak the lattice with some fur?” And so it was.

Credits: A long list of talented people from W+K Lodge, W+K Motion and W+K Studio. If I start listing names, I’m likely to forget someone, so I’d better stop here.