The new Netflix film, “The Electric State”, presents a world inhabited by robots, but these are not the robots we are familiar with.

Directed by the Russo brothers, Anthony and Joe, who previously directed the Avengers blockbusters “Infinity War” and “Endgame”, with a reported budget of $320 million, “The Electric State” is set in an alternate version of the 1990s. In this world, sentient robots have been in existence for decades, long enough to have rebelled against their human masters, lost the war, and been exiled to a region in the Southwest. This is the area that the film’s protagonists, played by Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt, must infiltrate.

According to visual effects supervisor Matthew E. Butler, the robots in the film are deliberately designed to be the opposite of the robots we see today.

Butler explained that most people are accustomed to the design of modern-day robots, which concentrate their mass at the center and become less massive towards the extremities. In contrast, the movie’s robot, Cosmo, has a large head on a small neck, which Butler described as the worst possible design for a robot.

The design of Cosmo and other robots in the film is based on Simon Stålenhag’s illustrated novel of the same name. However, Butler explained that there is an in-movie explanation for their unusual design: they were created to be non-threatening, which is why they appear cute, goofy, and fun.

To make the robots appear physically believable and real, Butler’s team had to start with an impractical design and adapt it. They decided to honor Cosmo’s original design in a “silhouette fashion”, making him recognizable from a distance but with added details such as push rods, motors, and circuitry when viewed up close.

The goal was to convince the audience that the robots could actually work, making their designs more acceptable. Butler’s team had to bring “hundreds and hundreds of unique robots” to life, each with its own individual character, which was a challenging task.

There were no shortcuts for the visual effects team, as each robot required individual attention. They used a combination of traditional optical motion capture and a newer system using accelerometer-based suits to bring the robots to life. A team of seven motion capture performers worked with live-action actors on location and on set, providing the basis for the animated robots.

Butler emphasized that the process of bringing the robots to life was more complex than simply transferring an actor’s movements to a robot body. The performance of the motion capture actor, the design of the robot, and the voice acting all had to be taken into account to create the final robot character.

Ultimately, the robots seen on screen were the result of the collaboration of all the artists and performers involved. Butler said that the team “rolled up their sleeves and got on with it” to bring these unique and believable characters to life.