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Project 02 · visionOS

Patito

A rubber ducky buddy for your desk on Apple Vision Pro. It keeps you company while you work, and answers with quick, friendly replies.

Role
Design & development
Platform
visionOS 27 · Foundation Models
Timeline
2025 to present
Status
Available to download now ↗
View on the App Store ↗
FilmPatito on real desks and tables, filmed on Apple Vision Pro. 52 seconds, with sound.

01The idea

Company for your desk.

Patito is a little rubber duck that lives on your desk in Apple Vision Pro. Talk to it and it talks back: short, quick and a bit playful.

It’s company while you work. It doesn’t know today’s news or the answer to everything, and it doesn’t pretend to.

I was exploring Apple’s Foundation Models framework, and Patito became my way to keep exploring it.

02Decisions

Quick, private and close by.

Every decision came back to one question: what makes a desk buddy easy to have around?

Decision 01

On device.

Patito’s replies come from Apple’s on-device Foundation Model. That keeps them quick and private. What you say stays on Vision Pro.

Chose
Apple’s on-device model
Over
A cloud chatbot with a duck skin

Decision 02

Short answers, on purpose.

The on-device model is great at quick, friendly replies, and it isn’t built for world knowledge. So Patito plays to that strength: short responses that keep things light, instead of long answers it can’t back up.

Chose
Quick, playful replies
Over
Long, know-it-all answers

Decision 03

One window. No immersive space.

I built an immersive mode where Patito could leave the desk: say “Come here” or “Move left” and it swims over. Then I retired it. A companion should share the room with your work, not take it over. Patito lives in a single volume that sits beside your windows.

Chose
A single volumetric window
Over
A full immersive space

03Making it alive

A duck that doesn’t fight itself.

Patito floats, bobs on the water, and turns to face you. Early on, its “face the viewer” behavior quietly cancelled its scripted turns, and the duck looked like it was arguing with itself.

The fix was a rule: the animation owns turning and side-to-side movement; the water owns bobbing and tilt. Anything that moves the duck has to respect who owns which axis.

Immersive mode: Patito on a granite table with a panel of voice commands such as Come here and Move left
RetiredImmersive mode, driven by voice
Patito sitting on a table across a sunlit room
RetiredAnywhere in the room, too far from your work
Patito in a small volume on a desk beside a lamp
KeptA small volume beside your work
A buddy, not a search engine.