Apple Is Reportedly Working On A Pixar-Style Tabletop Robot Lamp With Expressive, Lifelike Movements – Wccftech
Apple keeps on challenging itself and has an ambitious approach to expanding itself into different categories. It has been increasingly focused on adding more devices for the home, such as smart displays. We have been hearing about the tech giant working on a tabletop robot for home for quite some time. However, it was not until a paper shared by the Apple research team that hinted at the possibility, and now a blog post published on the company’s Machine Learning Website confirms that a robot with expressive movements powered by Apple Intelligence and reminiscent of Pixar’s Luxo Jr is in the works.Apple is working on expanding its smart home category and holding ambitions in robotics, which is something that we have been hearing about since last year. But it was when Apple’s Machine Learning Research division posted a short research paper last month, spotted by MacRumors, that gave away the expressive and functional design for a non-anthropomorphic robot. Now a video of the lamp that Apple Intelligence drives is shared, and people find the expressive lamp to be quite familiar.Apple is referring to the framework as ELEGNT. In the video, two tabletop lamps on articulating arms are shown, one labeled Expressive and the other Functional. The former has people hooked as it not only moves in different directions but can mimic emotions such as confusion, excitement, or even happiness, which seems to be quite entertaining. The project is said to be led by Peide Huang, Yuhan Hu, Jian Zhang, and Mouli Sivapurapu.In the video shared, when the robot is asked about what the weather is like, it looks confused and looks outside before responding to give a human-like touch to the interaction. People have naturally started drawing comparisons to Pixar’s mascot, Luxo Jr, and referring to the lifelike lamp as equally cute. Later on in the same video, the robot can be seen observing a person working on building a 3D printer and pulls up a tutorial video on it for reference. It even acts like a friend working together on it and plays music and dances along to give a bit of company.Mark Gurman published a report last year highlighting that Apple is potentially working on a tabletop robot that could come out in 2026 or 2027 and would be mainly controlled by Apple Intelligence. He also predicted that the cost of the robot lamp would be around $1000. While the details are yet to be confirmed, the video alone has us intrigued about the possibility of having our own Pixar-like lamp.Some posts on wccftech.com may contain affiliate links. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC
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