Like Luxo Jr.: Apple researchers develop lamp robot
Apple does not normally reveal what the company is working on. An AI research team has now shown a robot prototype – including a study and video.
ELEGNT comes from Apple's ML lab. The way it is presented is unusual.
(Image: Apple Machine Learning Research / YouTube)
Is this Apple's "tabletop robot"? The company has now published an amazing research project from Apple's machine learning lab , complete with video and paper. "ELEGNT" is a robot with a built-in lamp that looks and acts like Luxo Jr. from the 1986 Pixar short films, which lives on in the opening credits of the films by the company once headed by Steve Jobs.
Lamp robots help with the work
The anthropomorphic machine can react to hand gestures, for example it moves back if you get too close to it and also has voice control. In working life, it can help with creative jobs and even project tutorials onto a nearby wall, according to the video. "In this paper, we present the design and prototype of a lamp-like robot that explores the interplay between functional and expressive goals in motion design," the paper states. It even describes the hardware design process and the consultation with potential users (user study).
Videos by heise
What is particularly interesting about the project is that Apple describes hardware in a study that the company itself could implement as a product. The iPhone company's research teams usually showcase software solutions, for example in the field of AI, along with the corresponding papers. There is little or nothing to be seen publicly from the hardware department, unless it has to do with ecological aspects that Apple hopes competitors will copy.
Will there be a product?
It remains to be seen whether such an offensively presented research project will become a real product. Months ago, Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman repeatedly spoke of a tabletop robot project that Apple is working on. The vision is a "smart home command center" that is also a "video conferencing machine" plus a remote-controlled home security tool (via the integrated camera). However, ELEGNT goes far beyond this.
However, it is also conceivable that the research project is running completely independently of Apple's product ambitions. Nevertheless, it is unusual for Apple to go public with hardware research that is so close to the product. Other projects from the company's ML lab deal with LLMs, scaling and better utilization of Nvidia hardware.
Empfohlener redaktioneller Inhalt
Mit Ihrer Zustimmung wird hier ein externer Preisvergleich (heise Preisvergleich) geladen.
Ich bin damit einverstanden, dass mir externe Inhalte angezeigt werden. Damit können personenbezogene Daten an Drittplattformen (heise Preisvergleich) übermittelt werden. Mehr dazu in unserer Datenschutzerklärung.
(bsc)
