{"id":90749,"date":"2025-02-09T02:11:51","date_gmt":"2025-02-09T02:11:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/09\/apples-new-research-robot-takes-a-page-from-pixars-playbook\/"},"modified":"2025-02-09T02:11:51","modified_gmt":"2025-02-09T02:11:51","slug":"apples-new-research-robot-takes-a-page-from-pixars-playbook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/09\/apples-new-research-robot-takes-a-page-from-pixars-playbook\/","title":{"rendered":"Apple\u2019s new research robot takes a page from Pixar\u2019s playbook"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Last month, Apple offered up more insight into its consumer robotics work via a research paper<\/a> that argues that traits like expressive movements are key to optimizing human-robot interaction. \u201cLike most animals,\u201d starts the report, \u201chumans are highly sensitive to motion and subtle changes in movement.\u201d<\/p>\n

To illustrate its point, Apple pays homage to Pixar, another company founded with help from the late Steve Jobs. Since Pixar first debuted in an eponymous 1985 short film<\/a>, the Luxo Jr. lamp has served as the animation studio\u2019s long-time mascot. For its research, Apple, too, chose a lamp for its own \u201cnon-anthropomorphic\u201d example. After all, lamps don\u2019t possess any obvious humanlike traits, but they can be made to behave in familiar ways.<\/p>\n

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Image Credits:<\/strong>Apple<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cFor robots to interact more naturally with humans,\u201d the paper notes, \u201crobot movement design should likewise integrate expressive qualities, such as intention, attention, and emotions, alongside traditional functional considerations like task fulfillment and time efficiency.\u201d<\/p>\n

A video<\/a> released in conjunction with the paper showcases some of these movements. Unsurprisingly, they mostly echo those of Pixar\u2019s creation. That includes the same analogous parts, with the lampshade serving as the head, while the arm stands in for a neck.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The most intriguing part of the video, with regard to potential productization, comes as a user queries the robot. At its simplest, the unnamed lamp robot operates as a more kinetic version of a HomePod, Amazon Echo, or other smart speaker. The person facing the lamp asks a query and the robot responds in Siri\u2019s voice.<\/p>\n

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Image Credits:<\/strong>Apple<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A split screen video highlights the importance of expressive movements. Asked what the weather is like outside, one version simply states the answer. The other swivels its head to look out the window as if the view offers insight on which the robot can draw. It\u2019s a simple example, but one that drives home how even small movements tap into our lizard brain\u2019s pareidolia<\/a>. The familiarity of expressive movements helps form a connection between human and object. <\/p>\n

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Screenshot<\/span>Image Credits:<\/strong>Apple<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Apple\u2019s research arrives as the company is reportedly ramping up its consumer robotics efforts ahead of the planned release of a more advanced smart home system<\/a>. It\u2019s clear how these learnings might be applied to make a robotic home hub more expressive. It\u2019s similar to the approach Amazon has taken with its Astro robot<\/a>. However, the inclusion of a non-anthropomorphic form factor in the research implies that the robot may be even less humanoid than Amazon\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Rumors surrounding the upcoming release have described the hub as \u201ca robot arm with an iPad attached.\u201d It\u2019s easy to see how the lamp form factor could be applied there. Of course, Apple\u2019s consumer robotics division appears to still be the research phase. Plenty can happen between now and then, from a major shift in form factor to a decision to pull the plug on the project prior to launch.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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