Apple explores mobile robots and humanoid machines
Apple has been investigating the potential of robotics to enable its products to move independently. This ambitious project began around 2020 and continues to be a focus for a team focused on robotics within the company.
Mark Gurman for Bloomberg News:
Apple is still in the early stages of figuring out the best way to use robotics. The test case will be a tabletop device codenamed J595 that brings together a large, iPad-like display with cameras and a base that features a robotic actuator. That product likely will arrive around 2026 or 2027, followed by mobile robots and possibly even humanoid models in the next decade.
With robotics, Apple believes it can solve a series of first-world problems:
• Your device is only useful if you can reach it. There are many occasions when you might like to use your computer but it isn’t nearby — or your hands are otherwise occupied. Maybe you left a device in your home office, but now you’re in the kitchen or living room and need it.
• You may want to take photos of things or launch a videoconferencing session, but you’re not holding a device or sitting directly in front of it.
• You might want to operate or check something in your home while being out of the house.
Apple has envisioned machines that can do household chores — like loading up a laundry machine or scrubbing down dirty plates — but that’s still so far in the future that the ideas don’t go beyond sketches on a whiteboard.
MacDailyNews Take: If Apple ever unveils a robot, even a tabletop iPad that keeps its display facing you, we’ll wait to see what benefits the product(s) offer before making any judgments. Clearly, Apple has the money and should be exploring myriad avenues for future products and services.
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