- Apple has shown a robot lamp in a new search document
- The work here can allude to future product plans, and the expression is at the front and center
- The robot lamp prototype reminds us of Pixar and Disney
There have been many rumors on Apple working on internal robotic projects, including a table robot that could potentially move and have a screen similar to an iPad, as Bloomberg reported. But thanks to a new research document published by Apple, we now have the first overview of a robot built by the company, and it’s downright cute.
In simpler terms, Apple has a robotic lamp that evokes the main vibrations Pixar Luxo Jr., and I would be super happy to see it finally on the market. Even at this early stage, it is a much more fun and fun approach to robotics. However, however, it is a prototype in an Apple Machine Learning search document, so it is still far from being something that you can enter a store and buy.
The robot lamp is presented in a video in a research article entitled “Elegnt: Design of expressive and functional movement for the non -anthropomorphic robot”. He is written by Yuhan Hu, Peide Huang, Mouli Sivapurapu and Jian Zhang.
This title certainly shows Apple’s thoughtful approach in robotics. He wants the robot to be expressive, similar to a human. This approach is similar to that of the Anki vector and the cozmo robots or animated faces associated with Amazon Astro – always a robot only invites.
In the video, you can see how the robot is both expressive and functional, which allows it to interact with the researcher and follow the instructions of what seems to be gestures. At one point, it is asked to move via a finger film and responds. Apple’s goal, or at least that of this research team, wants it to be an elegant, inviting – important robot for a device that will be at home – expressive and ultimately functional.
At one point, almost leaning on Apple’s movements in the health space, he reminds a user to drink water by pushing the glass closer. It’s really cool, and watch the full video – it’s only four minutes and forty -six seconds – is worth it.
As a fan of Disney and Pixar, I find the atmosphere seriously similar to that of the Luxo Jr. lamp which likes the pleasure, sometimes playful that we all know. The lamp is apparently more than moving or illuminating, however. In a scene, it is shown that moving with an assistant playing an answer – probably Siri – he could therefore have an integrated speaker. In another, he projects a video on a wall to help with a project that the researcher leads.
The opening where the lamp comes to life, swinging, overturning blocks and making a delicious marginage is simply great. Although this does not give exact information about what a future product might look like, it gives us a first overview of a robot prototype manufactured by Apple, and it certainly adds a little more credibility to a potential device.
He also shows how Apple thinks of a device that could be used daily in more individual interactions with people, and there is a certain amount of care that returns to it. Elegnt d’Apple is much less dystopian and more fun and welcoming, which is a better way to think in the future.
Apple writes in the research document: “Non -verbal behaviors such as posture, gestures and gaze are essential to transmit internal states, both consciously and unconsciously, in human interaction. For robots to interact more naturally with humans, the design of the robots movement should also integrate expressive qualities – such as intention, attention and emotions – traditional functional considerations next to it as the accomplishment of tasks, Spatial constraints and the effectiveness of time. »»
It is clear that it is at the top of Apple’s mind, and it could very well be a major differentiating for Apple in a space that is more and more billed with robots of all kinds. You can see the entire search document from Apple Machine Learning search here.
