That old showbiz adage about never working with children or animals is in need of an update.

¡°Robots should be on that list,¡± says Katie Robbins, the creator and showrunner of the Apple TV+ series ¡°Sunny.¡± The 10-episode drama, produced by A24 and starring Rashida Jones, is set in a near-future Japan where domestic ¡°homebots¡± have become ubiquitous. They do the housework, provide emotional support, and bear a more than passing resemblance to Pepper, SoftBank¡¯s now-discontinued humanoid robot.

Rather than take the CGI route to create the show¡¯s title character, Robbins, director Lucy Tcherniak and their creative team collaborated with New Zealand¡¯s W¨¥t¨¡ Workshop to make an animatronic bot that could interact with the cast.