After reportedly abandoning the long-rumoured Apple Car, the company’s next major future-thinking endeavour could be personal robotics.
According to the well-connected Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman, Apple is working on a mobile in-home robot that would follow users around the house.
The report, which cites word from unnamed employees at Apple, says there could also be an “advanced table-top home device” which is a robotic monitor arm that would also follow the users.
Quirkily, the report says the device would react to on-screen happenings, such as if someone nodded within the chat. It could also lock itself on to the person talking during a video call.
The report says:
Engineers at Apple have been exploring a mobile robot that can follow users around their homes, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the skunk-works project is private. The iPhone maker also has developed an advanced table-top home device that uses robotics to move a display around, they said.
Bloomberg
According to the report, the moving display is farther along in its development than the mobile robot, having been in the pipeline for longer. It’ll be the in-home mobile robot that sparks the most interest though. It seems to have risen from the remnants of the Apple Car project.
The project described sounds similar to the Samsung Ballie robot, which Samsung announced at CES 2024 in January.
However, neither product is currently on the roadmap, the sources say. According to the report, there are still several issues that could prevent either project being approved for production by the Apple higher-ups, key among which is the ability to produce either item affordably.
