Apple has reportedly kicked off early work on exploring home robotics, including one prototype that follows users around their houses. The company sees the potential of home robots as its “next big thing” according to a new Bloomberg report.
Engineers within Apple are assessing the viability of a mobile robot that would have the ability to follow users around their houses. Another prototype under Apple’s home robots ambitions calls for an “advanced table-top home device” with a mechanized arm that would automatically move and control a hinged display that follows the user’s head movements.
The report warns that such endeavors are still in an early concept stage and it’s unclear whether Apple will seriously consider releasing such products to the market. The company is scrambling to find its next major milestone product release, something that Apple hoped to be its autonomous electric vehicle project before its ultimate demise earlier this year.
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The report notes that Apple has a few incentives to enter the home robots market. Such a product would increase Apple’s presence in users’ houses. The project is also heavily dependent on artificial intelligence (AI) applications, something that the company is now heavily invested in. Apple is reportedly still undecided whether it wants to pursue the user-following robot or the table-top smart display first, though the report adds that the smart display is at a more advanced development stage.
The home robots effort is being led by Apple’s hardware engineering groups alongside its AI and machine-learning division. The company now sees its future in mixed-reality and smart home devices after abandoning hopes for an autonomous EV, and home robots could be just what Apple is after following the launch of Vision Pro.
Apple’s hardware chief John TernusJohn Ternus has been Apple's COO since 2009. More is said to have taken a particular interest in the table-top robotic smart display project. For example, Apple envisions the device as having a robotic arm that controls a hovering display, with the arm’s movement following and mimicking how a user moves their head during a FaceTime call.
However, not everyone at Apple seems on board with the idea, as some unnamed executives remain skeptical of its market potential. The table-top smart display endeavor has also faced technical difficulties during its development, and Apple has further doubts about what retail price consumers would be willing to pay to purchase such a device.
Apple originally envisioned the mobile robot as a completely autonomous one, one that could navigate entirely on its own without human intervention while also serving as an advanced videoconferencing device. Apple even considered the moonshot idea of having such a robot perform home chores like cleaning, but such a device is unlikely to become available within this decade as it requires “overcoming extraordinarily difficult engineering challenges.”
