Final yr, Lenovo confirmed off a fantastically futuristic idea gadget known as Undertaking Crystal, which was the world’s first laptop computer to function a clear MicroLED show. However in the present day, in what has develop into a practice for Lenovo throughout IFA, the corporate is again with yet one more demo pocket book, this time geared up with a motorized rotating hinge.
Dubbed the Auto Twist AI PC, Lenovo’s newest idea appears to be like nearly precisely like a conventional clamshell when closed. Nonetheless, with a easy voice command, its lid raises routinely and rotates into virtually any place — even all the way in which round into pill mode. Whereas there is no such thing as a official pricing, and even plans to convey the system to full manufacturing simply but, Lenovo says the Auto Twist is designed to offer enhanced adaptability, improved ergonomics and presumably higher safety. However for now, the corporate’s fundamental purpose is solely to see what environments or use instances would possibly be capable of greatest reap the benefits of a laptop computer with this sort of novel design.
Due to built-in object monitoring, for instance, the Auto Twist can transfer its show and observe folks as they stroll round a room, which could possibly be very useful when making displays. It might probably additionally detect an individual’s physique, and presumably even their posture, earlier than shifting its show into the most effective place to cut back fatigue or pressure.
Alternatively, the laptop computer can detect when it’s not getting used after which shut its personal lid to stop undesirable customers from gaining entry. And whereas the Auto Twist’s AI tag feels a bit spurious, Lenovo hopes the laptop computer will be capable of do lots of this stuff by itself or by means of easy pure language voice management (the laptop computer presently helps instructions to remodel into laptop computer mode, clamshell mode and extra).
After seeing it in individual, probably the most speedy use case that got here to my thoughts was in POS (point-of-sale) cost terminals. Right here, workers typically should manually flip a display screen round in order that the shopper can see their complete or add in issues like a tip. Granted, the Auto Twist does seem to be overkill in that scenario contemplating how simple it’s to rotate a display screen across the old school approach together with your fingers a primary hinge. And a minimum of from what I noticed, the built-in motor wasn’t fairly as clean as you’d most likely need for business functions. However, it’s an fascinating concept with potential for high-end luxurious shops.
Then there’s simply the enjoyable of it. Throughout my demo, I watched because the Auto Twist performed a clip of a dancer as its motorized hinge tried to make its show match the individual’s actions. I additionally noticed the laptop computer swivel its show horizontally to current an ultra-wide panoramic photograph in a extra partaking approach. Moreover, whereas different bleeding-edge tech like laptops with foldable shows endure from a ton of added weight and bulk, the rotating servo on Lenovo’s newest idea is comparatively unobtrusive and there isn’t a huge effect on the system’s total portability.
So whereas it stays to be seen how helpful the Auto Twist actually is or what it’d flip into down the road, I recognize that Lenovo remains to be attempting to provide you with new methods to evolve the basic clamshell laptop computer.
