The complexity of the anthropomorphic design, the need for natural and adaptive locomotion and human like behaviour and performance are some of the intrinsic features which usually pose great challenges when developing a humanoid. The iCub is a humanoid platform that was developed by the RobotCub Consortium to provide the cognition research community with an open “child-like” humanoid platform for understanding and development of cognitive systems. The development of such a humanoid platform that has the physical capacity of a human child poses many challenges from the mechatronic point of view which must be addressed in a methodical and concurrent manner in order to co-ordinate and integrate the various components that form the full and complete mechatronic system. The first part of talk will introduce the current body ware of the iCub robot discussing on the issues faced during the design and realization of the platform and the solutions adopted. This will include a comprehensive description of robot mechanics starting from the primitive modules of the actuation system up to the mechanical assemblies used for the various body segments (arms, legs, head and waist). The second part of the seminar will introduce ongoing developments towards the realization of the next iCub generation. In contrast to the human beings the current humanoid robots including the iCub exhibit poor intrinsic motor skills (compliance is one of those) and as a result their capability to interact with the environment or humans is limited and remains one of the major deficiencies. To improve this, new mechatronic actuation modules with enrich inherent skills are being explored to form the motion units of the next generation of the robot. These include actuation units combing passive compliance and semi-active damping configurations. Some details on these developments will be reported.