Thank you, joseperez 
Made a quick blockout for the arms. They are too short and I’ll fix that later. For now I was focusing on the functionality and the degrees of freedom. After some recherches on the net I found the awesome work of a German company called Festo. They are building automation systems and explore new technologies. I took one of their robotic arms as a reference for the arms endo-skeleton.
Have a look at their video:
I was thinking after you posted the hex covering which I think looks great (well I think the whole thing looks great and this is just something that popped into my head from a how could it work in reality point of view)
The hex layer reminded me of an article I read a while back about ITAP prosthesis which is based on the same idea of how in nature deer antlers can poke through the skin and still maintain a bacteria resistance seal with the skin. So essential you have a small metal grid that the skin bonds to to form that seal and the metal actual then connects direct to the bone but can poke through allowing prosthetics to be attached. That could make sense with the hex mesh if it went fine then merged with the skin so it was growing through the mesh and attaching rather than going behind it as you have and then show the connection more strongly.
Also if you look at the synthetic skin we are starting to produce in the example here https://hpectechtrends.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/handskin.jpg you can see the underlying wiring which is kind of cool perhaps just a tiny bit at the edges.
Saying all that I love it as it is as well and I wouldn’t want to destroy the nice aesthetics by being too literal I just thought I’d share my thoughts more than suggest improvement 
but it just got me thinking about how you might really do it as we are starting to get closer for that type of skin to metal bonding in reality which is very cool (although not very pretty when I was trying to search for a reference image!)
It’s interesting to see what has been done with robotics. The video really shows that well. It definitely looks like the arms should be longer, but nicely done on what you have so far.
Thank you very much, Umii, for this image of the prosthetic hand. It’s very nice of you to research for it and it’s also nice to see something similar as the hex covering in real life. I also searched for prosthetics and for bionic appliances when I searched for references. But I didn’t came across this.
I was also thinking about the material and how it could work. It must have a certain mix of stability, stiffness and flexibility. Therefore it must be made of a kind of rubber. The hexagons would support the stability if they are embossed. First I thought the hexagon layer should be made of metal. But so heavily stretchy metal hasn’t been invented yet. So I must try to keep a rubber/plastics material for the hexagon part also.
But I don’t want to overdo the realism of the project. Just enough to keep it from being complete nonsense at the first glance.
Isn’t the arm in the video a lovely piece of technology, Harleynut? I mean in so far technology can be lovely Look, how fluid the movement is. But I fear that the cuts in the video - perhaps - mask some not so fluid moves and some problems they may still have. Humans turn their hands by twisting the forearm. Here they (and I for my bot) must invent something different for the hand rotation. But they are selling the story well.
On my side I’m working slowly through the modeling phase. And here is the current state. I think about doing only the upper body this time, because I don’t need more for the picture, that I have in mind. And to shorten the time I’ll need for this project.
To see if I’m still heading in the right direction, I allowed myself some render fun and threw some HDR images into the scene. Yeah.
WOW! She is looking awesome in these outdoor environment. I think you have found an excellent material for the Hexagon “skin” The transparency seems just the right amount to my eyes. Will the hands remain as they are or will they be changing?
This has turned into a very cool project Minoribus.
Why is she wearing peanut brittle earrings?? HAHAHA…
@@minoribus: Nice job, looks awesome. Very interesting.
Minoribus, you always do good work…but this is on another level. Wow, congratulations on this!
The lighting on the first HDRI looks pretty pretty well minoribus, definelly stand out all your model and shaders! I like much you semi transparent material and how looks the inner parts on this character!
coolfield7, thanks for visiting my thread and your encouraging comment.
For the hands and the face I plan a skin material like in the first images of the thread, Harleynut.
Frobenius, thank you very much - and - nice to meet your new avatar
Thank you, José!
Here is the modeling progress that I made.
And two new beauty renders.
Could it be that the rear view is much more interesting than the front view? I have to work on that because in the final picture I plan a 3/4 view from the front.
Looks amazing loving watching this develop, Its very slight, do you think the differance between interest in front and back is just because you have a little bit of asymmetrical detail on the body on the back where as on the front its symmetrical at the moment perhaps ? Saying that I’m wondering if I would have noticed if you had not said something 
I have to work on that because in the final picture I plan a 3/4 view from the front.
Who say’s you must be limited to only 1 final camera view? IMHO the more, the better.
Progress continues to look excellent, I really like those larger cables you added.
I think maybe the view from the back is more appealing because the silhouette of the inner parts is stronger in that view. While the skin mesh is amazing, the real interest lies in the intricacies of the inner parts (IMHO). You might try rotating the character in the hdri environment to get a different result. Amazing work!
@ coolfield7, the Oscars can can be a very drawn out venue, what if a girl gets hungry?
@ minoribus, she is looking FANTASTIC, great job so far.
shaun
Umii,
do you think the difference between interest in front and back is just because you have a little bit of asymmetrical detail on the body on the back where as on the front its symmetrical at the moment perhaps
Yes, I think that has some influence and I should expand the asymmetry.
Harleynut,
Who say’s you must be limited to only 1 final camera view? IMHO the more, the better.
Lol, are you trying to talk me into an animation 
Would be nice, but I think it would be very difficult. I’m not the most experienced rigger, you must know. Perhaps some more angles for the final renders must do
Jdover,
While the skin mesh is amazing, the real interest lies in the intricacies of the inner parts (IMHO).
Definitely yes. The inner parts are the show parts. I should make them more visible from the front. And as you said the light plays a key role also. If I remember how flat the lighting looked inside that room in a previous post that will be really challenging. Maybe I can use some emitter here and there for the inner parts when I do the shading? But the face shall play a role also. Have to try that when it comes to shading. The hexmesh is already shaded because it wouldn’t work without the transparency. But everything else still has a place holder material.
Btw: How is your trailer project going?
Shaun,
minoribus, she is looking FANTASTIC, great job so far.
Thank you, Shaun, and all the others for your input and comments. Very much appreciated.
Followig the discussion I reworked the upper body. Here is a before/after comparison. The riffled areas in the right image will be a flexible material like rubber when they are shaded.
And here is a version with a rotated HDRI to see how the new upper hull holds up.
The HDRIwhich I’m using in these latest renders was taken from the website Adaptive Samples, which is maintained by Greg Zaal. Thank you very much, Greg!
Got something scary and uncanny for you today. 
Interesting what has to be changed in a face to create a broad smile.
I don’t think robots were meant to smile minoribus:) The changes you made to the chest plate look cool.
so interesting how much effect changing the face has on the perception of the model, she reminds me of someone I know now 
Chest looking great with the additional detail!
super cool, especially that reinforced plastic material.
Harleynut,
I don’t think robots were meant to smile minoribus
Yeah, but that’s the idea I’m playing with. I want a smile, or better a laughter. And it should be acceptable in a “non-uncanny” sense. I want a true human expression on her face, because that would add to the contradiction of the subject. A humanoid robot out of the machine (in a literal meaning, because she is rendered) and yet in some way familiar. For the same reason I’m going for a skin shader.
Umii, thanks
so interesting how much effect changing the face has on the perception of the model
Could you describe in which way the perception has changed in your opinion? As I said above I tried to give her a human expression. With that I tried to make a shift from from cold impersonal to something you can have sympathy with.
Modron, thank you very much
Since the last update I went back to my references and changed some of the facial features for the grin. And I tuned the teeth. The tuned teeth make a big difference imho.
Glad to hear your thoughts and thanks for visiting!
