The rotation polar(F ) ∈ SO(3) arises as the unique orthogonal factor of the right polar decomposition F = polar(F ) U of a given invertible matrix F ∈ GL + (3). In the context of nonlinear elasticity Grioli (1940) discovered a geometric variational characterization of polar(F ) as a unique energy-minimizing rotation. In preceding works, we have analyzed a generalization of Grioli's variational approach with weights (material parameters) µ > 0 and µc ≥ 0 (Grioli: µ = µc). The energy subject to minimization coincides with the Cosserat shear-stretch contribution arising in any geometrically nonlinear, isotropic and quadratic Cosserat continuum model formulated in the deformation gradient field F := ∇ϕ : Ω → GL + (3) and the microrotation field R : Ω → SO (3). The corresponding set of non-classical energy-minimizing rotations rpolar ± µ,µc (F ) := arg min R ∈ SO(3) Wµ,µ c (R ; F ) := µ sym(R T F − 1) 2 + µc skew(R T F − 1) 2represents a new relaxed-polar mechanism. Our goal is to motivate this mechanism by presenting it in a relevant setting. To this end, we explicitly construct a deformation mapping ϕnano which models an idealized nanoindentation and compare the corresponding optimal rotation patterns rpolar ± 1,0 (Fnano) with experimentally obtained 3D-EBSD measurements of the disorientation angle of lattice rotations due to a nanoindentation in solid copper. We observe that the non-classical relaxed-polar mechanism can produce interesting counter-rotations. A possible link between Cosserat theory and finite multiplicative plasticity theory on small scales is also explored.