- Apple showed off a robotic lamp in a new research document
- The work here may suggest future product plans and expressions are front and middle
- The prototype of the robot lamp reminds us of Pixar and Disney
There have been plenty of rumors that Apple is working on internal robot projects, especially a table space robot that can potentially move around and have a screen that looks like an iPad that Bloomberg reported. But thanks to a new research document published by Apple, we now have the first look at a robot built by the company and it is even sweet.
On simpler terms, Apple has a robotic lamp that induces Major Pixar Luxo Jr. Vibes and I would be super happy to see it eventually get on the market. Even at this early stage, it is a much more playful and fun approach to robotics. However, this is a prototype in a research article from Apple Machine Learning, so it’s still far from being something you can go into a store and buy.
The robot lamp appears in a video in a research document entitled “Electric: Expressive and Functional Movement Design for non-anthropomorphic robot.” It is the author of Yuhan Hu, Peide Huang, Mouli Sivapurapu and Jian Zhang.
This title certainly shows Apple’s thoughtful approach to robotics. It wants the robot to be expressive, similar to a human being. This approach corresponds to the virgin and Cozmo robots or the animated faces associated with Amazon’s Astradig an invited robot.
In the video you can see how the robot is both expressive and functional, allowing it to interact with the researcher and follow the instructions from what seems to be movements. At one point it is asked to move over via a finger flick and respond. Apple’s goal, or at least this research team, wants it to be an elegant robot, one that is invited – important to a device that will be in the home – expressive and ultimately functional.
At one point, almost leaning into Apple’s movements in the health room, it reminds a user of drinking water by pushing the glass closer. It’s really cool, and watching the full video-it’s only four minutes and forty-six seconds long-— is worth it.
As a Disney and Pixar fan, I find the mood seriously that looks like the funny, sometimes Rampete Luxo Jr. lamp we all know. The lamp apparently does more than moving or illuminating. In one scene, it is shown to move with an assistant who plays a response-of which is of course Siri so it may have a speaker built-in. In another, it projects a video on a wall to help with a project that the researcher is completing.
The opening where the lamp comes alive, swinging around, knocking over blocks and performing a nice crisp is simply large. While this does not provide accurate information about what a future product can look like, it gives us a first glimpse of a robotic prototype made by Apple, and it certainly adds a little more faith to a potential device.
It also shows how Apple thinks of a device that can be used daily in more one-on-one interaction with people, and there is a certain amount of care that goes into it. Apple’s electric character is far less dystopian and more fun and inviting, which is a better way of thinking about the future.
Apple writes in the research document, “Non -verbal behavior such as attitude, movements and gazes are important for conveying internal states, both consciously and unconsciously, in human interaction. In order for robots to interact more naturally with humans, robotic movement design should also integrate expressive qualities – such as intention, attention and feelings – long -side Traditional functional considerations such as the task’s fulfillment, spatial limitations and time efficiency. “
It is clear that it is at the top of Apple’s mind, and it can very well be an important differentiation for Apple in a room that is increasingly invoiced with robots of all kinds. You can see the research document fully from the Apple Machine Learning Research here.
