This video shows the researcher completing the task with two robots. One is labelled “expressive” and the other is labelled “functional”, the former is even more fun.
Both robots are desk-style lamps above bright arms, appearing to have LED lights, cameras, speakers and projectors built into them. They respond to gestures and voice commands, and have voices that sound suspicious like Siri from Apple. One of them shows a lot of personality.
As video researchers play music, a “expressive” robot lamp dances with her. When she asks about the weather, it looks out first. As she works on a complex project, it follows her movement, and emits a more useful light. When it reminds her to drink water, it pushes the glass towards her. When she says it can’t come out on a hike with her, it hangs her head with false sadness.
Feature Version – Photos of the same tasks lined up – will remain motionless unless they need to be moved as part of the task. This is a very effective demonstration of how adding human characteristics to objects makes them more relevant and even more functional.
Apple shows that Apple is developing more devices for its home, including smart displays and tabletop robots. Both of these could serve as personal assistants for Siri, FaceTime Video-Calling devices, and Smart Home Control Centers. Mark Garman of Bloomberg reports that the robotic devices could be shipped in 2026 or 2027, and could cost around $1,000.
It’s not that Apple explicitly develops this particular Pixar style lamp for our home. The video shows a robot equipped with a projector at some point, but it’s difficult to see how a screenless lamp robot can provide these purposes. However, the project, led by Yuhan Hu, Peide Huang, Mouli Sivapurapu and Jian Zhang, is designed to prove expressive to encourage robots to interact with us. It’s been done.
But after watching the video I’m on sale on the lamp. This is cute and seems to work much better than any of my smart speakers.
