Pixar’s Lamp Character Recreated Into a Life-Like Bot

Yes, it's true machines pose a serious threat of human extinction (a group of Cambridge researchers thinks so, anyway), but they're so darn adorable, which is what might ultimately be our downfall. Until then, you might as well enjoy what our mechanical creations have to offer, like the real-life Pixar lamp that swings around and doesn't like to be turned off.

The lamp's actual name is Pinokio and it was build by Victoria University of Wellington students. It wields a webcam, 6 servos, and an Arduino processor.


"Pinokio is an exploration into the expressive and behavioral potentials of robotic computing. Customized computer code and electronic circuit design imbues Lamp with the ability to be aware of its environment, especially people, and to expresses a dynamic range of behavior," its creators explain. "As it negotiates its world, we the human audience can see that Lamp shares many traits possessed by animals, generating a range of emotional sympathies. In the end we may ask: Is Pinokio only a lamp? – a useful machine? Perhaps we should put the book aside and meet a new friend."

The best part of the video (embedded above) is when Lamp turns itself back on by flicking its own switch after repeated attempts to turn it off. It's also a little frightening, depending on the context, no?