Student Project Turns Ordinary Desk Lamp Into An Animatronic Homage To Pixar

Now the question is, does anyone really want a lamp that behaves like this?

Probably not, but that isn't why this is a big deal. It's really about how the students achieved a level of personality in a real thing on par with an animated version (usually we applaud when it's the other way around). Picking the lamp was a wise choice because it lends itself well to actions being anthropomorphized, as Pixar discovered years ago, so lifelike behaviors can be communicated in recognizable ways. Nonetheless, the behaviors feel authentic, though the range of behaviors doesn't seem very extensive.

Furthermore, consider the relative ease it took for the students to bring this lamp to life, as it appears this was a midsemester project. It's ripe for further exploration, either by the students themselves or a company looking at commercialization.

Living in a world where inanimate objects are responding physically to us, whether it is the Pinokio lamp or a plant as Disney labs has recently shown, will take getting used to for some, and for others, it's a dream come true.