How TV’s coolest AI bots came to life

In Sunnyit’s a robot that steals the show.

The Apple TV+ dark comedy chronicles the tumultuous relationship between Suzie (Rashida Jones) and her eponymous domestic robot, Sunny (voiced by Joanna Sotomura). Sunny is not your clumsy, gray robot with delayed reactions. She is a homemaker with impressive dexterity and emotional intelligence.

In Japan, where the show takes place, this AI robot arrives at Suzie’s door from her husband’s electronics company as a consolation gift after he and their son go missing in a plane crash. At first a surrogate companion, Sunny becomes a central character as significant as Suzie.

Although Sunny is based on the 2018 novel by Colin O’Sullivan The Dark Handbookthe show takes some creative liberties in its adaptation (for example, the male robot is gender-swapped for Robbins’ production), but Sunny’s disturbing presence translates.

In the book, O’Sullivan describes Suzie’s first examination of the homebot: “It has no features. He can’t show surprise or anguish or confusion, and yet Susie can see all these emotions on his smooth, blank face. Emotions? Is that what she means?” This pairing of artificial intelligence and emotional intelligence is the focus for Sunny.

“It was interesting to think about Sunny as simply as we could while still retaining some kind of emotional capacity,” showrunner Katie Robbins explained to The Daily Beast’s Obsessed in a recent interview.

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Robbins’ journey in creating Sunny’s anthropomorphic presence began with research into human-robot interaction. Robbins explained the theory that someone (for example, with severe depression or in the early stages of dementia) can get into the habit of communicating with a robot and then slowly become more comfortable with reconnecting with humans. Sunny takes on this responsibility in Suzie’s life during a time of inconsolable grief, she is the only “being” Suzie can unabashedly let go of.

“On one level, there is something incredibly captivating and appealing about Sunny. One scene she’s adorable and the next she’s a total killer bitch,” noted Robbins. “Both of these things seem very true at this inflection point where we are as a society; AI is this shiny, shiny thing, and it’s also very, very dangerous.”

Sunny’s simple aesthetic – with the clean lines of Japanese design, painted in a glossy eggshell white and Kawaii expressions – provides a canvas on which human emotion can be applied. Sunny is also small in stature and has an unexpected dexterity that allows her to engage in human activities: she mixes a drink, cooks an omelet, and plays a game of shogi.

Apple TV+

Robotics engineer Craig Hobern joined the project during the design process, building prototype mechanisms and control systems to achieve this level of movement. Hobern noted that his initial work was guided by Robbins’ creative teams submitting images of “buildings, plants, ceramics and retro toys as inspiration for design and form iterations.” The robot’s physical form was created by the Wētā Workshop team, who previously designed superhero costumes for Thor: Love and Thunder and sci-fi creature and costume design for Pacific Rim Rebellion.

Sunny Rolls with an entourage of 13 people on set, along with four workshop support staff. As robotics supervisor Tyler Page explains, each person is responsible for a different element of Sunny’s physical ability; there’s “the animatronic Sunny doll, someone in a Sunny performer suit to do over-the-shoulder (shots) for finer motor skills, a puppeteer who wears a vest with servers on each joint, so as he moves, Sunny move in reality…time. Also, a second puppeteer works on the wheel motors.” Each of Sunny’s puppeteers had to work very closely to become a synchronized, well-oiled machine, so that the intricate controls behind the simplest movements seemed effortless.

On the engineering side, Hobern was challenged to make the animatronic response time as tight as possible, so Sunny was reactive to the world around her and her scene partner. Sotomura wore a motion capture clip: as he moved his head, Sunny’s head moved; while Sotomura blinked, Sunny blinked.

Sotomura’s helmet had a screen that showed Sunny’s perspective and a camera to track facial and eye movements. “We take that data and then we map it onto this digital avatar, effectively Sunny’s face, which has been manipulated from wherever Sotomura is looking and what her expressions are,” Hobern noted. “He just becomes this living, breathing robot that everyone thinks is a real being on set. When it all comes together, the illusion is very compelling.”

Apple TV+

This almost instantaneous ability to have a performer’s movement mirrored by Sunny was vital in integrating the on-set robot as an actor. Robbins shared, “We wanted the directors to be able to go and give the person playing Sunny notes on the day, like a living, breathing scene between Sunny and her scene partner. Ultimately, the show is about the connection between humans and robots.” Here, SunnyHis commitment to puppetry and practical effects is at odds with the show’s futuristic plot—a contrast that makes discussions of AI alongside humans all the more fascinating.

Sunny introduces a new level in a robot’s emotional capabilities in episode 5, “Joey Sakamoto”. While lost in the woods, Sunny defies her code by going behind Suzie’s back and saving a dying baby bird, causing a robot to experience deep empathy and pain. For the entire crew, this episode was a real challenge as the cold temperatures in rural Japan at night caused the Sunny robot to shut down. However, working with the elements resulted in some of the show’s most beautiful shots, including Sunny wandering through the forest with a beam of light shining from her chest.

This filming experience was particularly memorable for Page. “I still have such an emotional attachment to Sunny,” he said. “I look at the monitors on the set and see what the team was able to achieve and the reactions of the other teams around … everyone was in love with Sunny.” The high-tech Sunny has become a valuable cast member on set, and just like on the show, the robot has been at the center of some tender moments with people on and off screen.