“I chose Pinocchio because he is a well-known character and because of his artificial nature. He is a wooden marionette, so I imagined it would be nice to turn him into a mechanical steam robot. In this version, Geppetto is a mad and lonely old man. Since he has no friends at all, he decided to make one.”
http://www.3dtotal.com/team/Tutorials_3/makingof_steamnocchio/steamnocchio01.php