A new report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman claims that Apple is working on home robotics projects as a potential new growth area. After the years-long Apple Car project was shut down earlier this year, and with Apple Vision Pro on the market and future versions in the works, the company needs to start experimenting with new products in entirely new areas in order to to continue to grow.
Gurman’s report says the company has plans for work involving home robotics. Two experimental projects are identified in the report: one is a “mobile robot that can follow users around their home” and the other is “an advanced tabletop home device that uses robotics to move a screen.” This second one sounds like a HomePod with a screen that swivels and tilts to face you in the frame as you move around the room, if you ask me. It would be much more advanced than the mobile robot and would have been added and removed from Apple’s product roadmap for years.
The robotic home display project would reportedly have features like “nodding” to accompany the movements and gestures of someone you’re on a FaceTime call with, or locking a user in a crowded room. Although this apparently excited managers at first, it ran into technical challenges and Apple executives disagreed over whether or not to produce the product – whether there would be a demand for something that carries its high cost.
Work on the mobile robot is apparently in its early stages, and like other projects within Apple, it grew out of research initially done as part of Apple’s automotive project. The original concepts included unimaginable capabilities, like the ability to wash dishes, which is highly unlikely, but Apple has several robotics jobs open on its career site.
A word of warning: Apple and other big tech companies frequently work on potential future products that never become products. Some will use their R&D in other products, others will be closed completely. An Apple Bot definitely won’t be announced this year, and if it happens, it could be years away.
