Let’s be honest: When you hear Kawasaki do you think robots? Or rather motorcycle like most people? Here is an animation which combines the two for a fast-paced trade fair presentation.

Japanese industrial giant Kawasaki Heavy Industries may be best know for their motorcycles but they are also a major manufacturer of industrial robots. When the European branch of Kawasaki Robotics needed a new video to show at trade fairs it was up to Tricklabor to create it.

Storyboard

According to the storyboard delivered by the agency a motorcycle was to cruise through a stylized production plant. Stylized and—to look similar to the print brochures—very blue. Plans to include more than one bike and some driver interaction had to be discarded because of time constraints, though.

Models

The main actors of the animation are, of course, the robots of which four different kinds are presented. The 3D models of the robots were delivered by Kawasaki Robotics as CAD files whereas the motorcycle was purchased off a stock model site. The driver was modelled by Roman Keßler, the producer behind the film. It was then up to Tricklabor to combine all elements inside blue production halls which would resemble the company logo when seen from above (like in the opening sequence).

Design

show design testsThe first step in the production was to come up with design and style suggestions. They had to use elements from the print brochures (eg. the grid pattern on the floor) and be simple enough to render quickly while still conveying a certain mood. As can be seen from the tests we started out with narrow, turquoise rooms and ended up in huge, dark blue halls.

Animation

play animaticThe pupose of the animation is to show off the robots and quite understandably Kawasaki wanted the robot motion to be very realistic. Going through the specifications helped to find out about degrees of freedom and rotational limits. Videos provided a reference the dynamics, how fast the robot arms could move or accelerate. Talking to Kawasaki Robotics directly was a big help in getting the animation of the paint spraying robots right.