Image Credit: Apple Machine Learning Research
Apple Machine Learning Research has released a short video and a twelve-page accompanying paper showcasing the importance of human-like movement in its prototyped robot.
This isn’t the first time we’ve heard Apple may be gearing up to release an Apple robot. In April 2024, rumors of Apple’s secretive robotics work surfaced, with the company alleged to be designing two different robots.
Now, it seems as though Apple’s hardware engineering division and AI group have produced something worth showing off. And frankly, the design is a little too familiar.
The new tabletop robot, first spotted by MacRumors, isn’t just lamp-like — it is a lamp. It’s not hard to draw direct comparisons to Luxo Jr, Pixar’s mascot.
The video starts by showcasing the robot’s lifelike movement.
The movement is called ELEGNT, which stands for expressive and functional movement design for non-anthropomorphic robot. It seems a bit of a stretch as far as acronyms go, however, it does move in a rather elegant way.
It’s immediately evident that the viewer is meant to be endeared to the robot. The fluid and expressive movements convey a curious, gentle demeanor.
The video demonstrates how a lifelike, non-anthropomorphic robot could interact with a person. The person uses gestures to control the robot, showing how waving, pointing, and pushing could be used to bring the light closer, change its focus, or move it further away. When they move the book, the robot follows.
Another use case could be switching from a desk lamp to a projector. A person working on a 3D printer demonstrates this as the robot pulls up and projects a relevant tutorial to help them.
But, overall, it highlights how an expressive robot could enhance user engagement. This is especially notable when the person asks the robot to check the weather, and it first turns to look out a window.
“Through a user study comparing expression-driven versus function-driven movements across six task scenarios, our findings indicate that expression-driven movements significantly enhance user engagement and perceived robot qualities,” the abstract reads.
“This effect is especially pronounced in social-oriented tasks.”
It’s likely that this robot is the same one we had heard about in August. It has been suggested that the robot could be slated for release as early as 2026 or 2027, and is planned to have a price in the region of $1,000.
