First Things First
So naturally the first thing we needed to decide was the name of our robot. After a few attempts at trying to find something which summed up what we were trying to achieve – modular, adaptable, reconfigurable and ‘fully’ autonomous (we can dream). Some early ideas included names like:
- Mod Bot
- Multi-Bot
- Talos (Greek Automaton)
- Molecule
- Poly Bot
For us as coders, the word polymorphism and it’s meaning seemed to strike the right chord, so it didn’t many iterations for us to settle on our final name!
So we had our name and to us it sounded great, but with it, so many ways to spell and/or write it. Should it be PolyDroid, Poly-Droid or Polidroid. So we started doodling and came up with a few concepts; some cool ideas, but nothing that grabbed us and felt like it hit the mark.
Joining the Dots
Then the idea struck! A lower case “p” bears a rather striking resemblance to an inverted lower case “d”, not only that but they also interlock to each other perfectly. So we played on that. Before too long we had come up with something which just seemed to work on so many levels and also gave the way it should be written: poli:droid. The colon being made from the “counter” of both the “p” and “d” of the background, as can be seen more obviously in the square version of the logo. At the same time as the “p” and “d” being represented in the logo, the dots also give a feeling of clipping the two sections together, reminiscent of the connection of Scalextric track.
Modularity Needs Attempt..
The key feature of our robot is that of modularity. We formulated a concept of having different types of modules which could be mix & matched to best suit the task as hand.
These modules break down into 4 categories:
- Helm (singular)
- Drives
- Docks
- Directs
Each of these performs a unique operation and carries it’s on logo with a common theme.
All in all, designing the logo has in itself been great fun and has informed many of the design choices that we have made, keep an eye peeled to see these influences in future posts and at the event.
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