This friendly robot designed by VLND Studio has a strong Star Wars vibe to it, the R2-D2 astromech droid influence in particular. While the acclaimed Star Wars robot served Padmé Amidala, Anakin Skywalker, and Luke Skywalker with reverence – the ARC BOT is the ideal mascot of human-robot relationships. The futuristic-looking bot is reminiscent of the delivery robots who serve their masters with the same devotion. ARC BOT is designed for internet portal NAVER LABS who already uses the robot in its headquarters building and now has plans to deploy the multi-robot intelligence system in its second head office building in Bundang, Gyeonggi Province.

The building adjacent to the Green Factory in Jeongja-dong in Seongnam is going to be the first robot-friendly building powered by the artificial robot cloud (ARC) system. It’s going to be a robotic army of ARC BOT AI robots connected to the cloud for efficient service. For now, the minimalistic robot can serve 4 drinks at a time, driving autonomously aided by the ToF sensors and array of cameras. To counter the shakes while moving, there are 4 built-in gimbals each having a two-axis gimbal structure to keep the beverages from spilling. The hinge of the robot opens up elegantly to keep the beverages snug in place for the eagerly waiting personnel.

To give the robot an interactive element, there is an array of 11 dots to express the emotions and make possible human-robot interaction. Those twinkling eyes remind of the cuteness of the WALL-E robot too, cutely working on cleaning the decimated planet earth.  While its curved design aesthetics and futuristic shape make me draw a parallel with WALL-E’s crush EVE. Perhaps it’s the offspring of the two – who’s stopping me from imagining!

Designer: VLND Studio for NAVER LABS