Dendrobot
2016—Maple, wire, and paper
Speculative, toy, packaging, and branding design
Dendrobot is a wooden collectible toys about defunct military robots that got reclaimed by the trees and turned into social robots.
Set in the far future, the world is filled with military junk leftovers from world war III. Over time, nature reclaimed those metal pieces and turned them into wood, giving new life to what were once murder machines.
Dendrobot series come in three sizes—small, medium, and large.
All design and fabrication are hand-crafted.
Brainstorming and sketches
Concept brainstorming through mind-maps, sketching product and packaging structures, and fabrication method planning.
Propotyping
Name and logo iterations.
Word definition and etimology from Google.
Toy fabrication.
The products were hand-made using wood lathe, saws, and hand-carving knives.
Packaging mock up and prototype.
The initial packaging idea was inspired by cargo ship container design.
Inside packaging lining design.
Color corresponds to the size of the Dendrobot, small, medium, and large respectively.
Finished product
The back view of the packaging.
Wrap-around illustration of the Dendrobot inside, background story about the Dendrobot series, as well as individual lore of each Dendrobots complete with its stats.
Character Design
The character's assigned numbers are based on the iterations of the Dendrobot designs attempted during the brainstorming and sketching process, hence the random order.
No. 003
Cymbot
A cymbal robot. Cymbots were originally made to alert troops and distract enemies in combat with their built-in high decibel cymbals. however, as Dendrobots today, cymbots use their cymbals to cheer on other robots or make any situation festive. They lead most of city parades. What was once a jarring alarm, the sound of their cymbals is now a symbol of joy and celebration.
No. 005
Rollers
Rollers were once designed to be high speed transformer motorbikes for the police department, used for patrols and chase in cities. They are very fast and polite. Today they have taken up the job of delivering goods and mails around the town. Anyone can count on their speed. Sometimes Rollers like to race one another for fun to see who got the fastest speed of all.
No. 006
Mass-O
Mass-Os are massive and heavy. Their bodies were built to endure bombs and missiles in combat. Their strong punches could take down an entire skyscraper. Today, Mass-Os are sensitive. They care about people and the environment around them. You can find them helping out the elderly or playing with kids at the park. They tend to be solitary and rarely seen in packs.
So, wood you be their friend?