The dream of having a robot that could fulfill all of our needs at home has been a big theme in science fiction for decades. Today, there's word that Apple might be looking into creating a personal home robot as one of its next big products.
Bloomberg reports, via unnamed sources, that Apple has begun doing some early research into such a home robot. The story claims that one idea would have such a device follow people around in their houses. Another very different product idea that was mentioned was a new table-top device with a robotic movable display. The display could mimic the movement of a human during a FaceTime session.
The report states that this early research is currently being handled by Apple's hardware and AI teams. Since this is still very early in development, it's entirely possible the company could decide to cancel this research at any time.
This skunkworks project is reportedly happening in part because Apple quietly canceled the development of making its own electric car earlier in 2024. The project had been in the works for years, even though the company never officially confirmed its existence. Rumors claim the car team experienced a lot of issues over the years before it got canceled, including moving away from making a completely autonomous vehicle to a more conventional driver-based, but still electric, car.
Of course, Apple did launch an all-new product earlier this year. The Apple Vision Pro mixed reality headset officially went on sale in the US in February with a hefty $3,499 price tag. While the product has gotten a lot of positive reviews, it has had its share of critics. Most importantly we don't know how successful the device has been in terms of sales, and Apple may not reveal those numbers for a long time, if ever.
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