In April this year, we reported that Apple is exploring various “personal robotics” projects (home robots).
One such project included a “mobile robot” assistant that follows users around their homes, while the other was an “advanced tabletop device” with a robotic arm that can move a display.
Now, in his latest Power-On newsletter, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has provided more information on Apple’s plans for home robotics.
The Cupertino giant is developing a tabletop smart home device with a robotic arm, said Gurman, citing sources who do not wish to be identified.
Codenamed J595, the project that has a “team of several hundred people” working on the device, was approved by Apple’s executive team in 2022.
However, the work on the device has started to pick up only in recent months, which is being led by Kevin Lynch, Apple’s Vice President of technology, the sources said.
He also led the Apple Car project or Project Titan, which officially shut down in February this year after being in development for more than a decade.
Allegedly, the new smart home device could feature an iPad-like display with a thin robotic arm that would supposedly use actuators to tilt the display up and down and make it spin 360 degrees.
The smart device would serve as “a smart home command center, videoconferencing machine and remote-controlled home security tool”, the sources added.
Additionally, the tabletop robot will also come with Apple Intelligence and Siri functionality, which will allow it to distinguish between the different voices of each member of the house and respond to commands such as “Look at me”, and automatically position the display to face users in the room.
“The shift into robotics is part of a broader effort to boost sales and capitalize on Apple Intelligence, a suite of artificial intelligence technology that’s coming to the iPhone, iPad and Mac this year. The company also is seeking new growth opportunities after ending efforts to develop a self-driving car earlier this year,” Gurman wrote in its newsletter.
Apple is looking to launch the tabletop home device as soon as 2026 or 2027 and is “looking to get the price down to around $1,000,” the report says. However, there are chances that the development plans may change as it proceeds.
