Sources: Apple is exploring home robotic devices, including a mobile robot that can follow users and a table-top device that uses robotics to move a display

- The company has teams working on automated home devices — The search is on for new growth sources after EV gets nixed

Bloomberg 2024-04-04 Mark Gurman

Context & Ripple Effects

Apple’s reported home-robotics work is framed as a search for a new growth path after its electric-vehicle effort ended. Follow-on coverage indicates the broad exploration narrowed toward a tabletop device with an iPad-like display and robotic arm, rather than remaining solely a mobile-robot concept.

Later reporting also places the hardware alongside Apple’s wider AI and home-device plans, making robotics relevant not just as a product category but as a potential physical interface for its assistant and home ambitions.

First-order effects

Apple’s home-device teams can evaluate mobile and tabletop robotics as product directions, with the tabletop display concept emerging as the more clearly prioritized path in subsequent coverage.
The reported work shifts attention from a discontinued vehicle program toward smaller-scale consumer hardware opportunities, though no product commitment is established.

Second-order effects

A robotics-enabled display would require Apple to reconcile industrial design, motion hardware, and assistant software in one home product, raising the bar for any conventional smart-display response.
Suppliers and app developers would gain a new potential interface category only if Apple turns the research into a product; the current report does not establish a launch timeline or commercial demand.

Third-order effects

If major platform companies keep pairing assistants with moving, ambient hardware, home computing could evolve from fixed screens and speakers toward AI-centered household devices that are physically responsive.
The durable question is whether robotics adds enough utility beyond a stationary display to justify its added complexity and cost; this report documents exploration, not proof of that market.

The trend: This is one data point in the push to make AI assistants more present in the physical environment through dedicated, sensor-rich consumer hardware.

Discussion

@motorcityadam Adam Cook on threads
I can say this... Apple has the cash handy to pursue this... And will they need it! Home mobile robotics is an absolute minefield of complexity and, again, would not largely be a software problem. I do wonder if Apple would be better served to get into the home appliance market…
@viticci@mastodon.macstories.net @viticci@mastodon.macstories.net on mastodon
make 'em look like this and you're gonna sell billions [Image: macOS Automator icon]
@fack.bsky.social Fack on bluesky
the problem with robotics stuff is how expensive it is, as we have seen with 3D printing stuff, you gotta open up consumer grade markets to bring the cost of manufacturing this high tech crap down. — expect to see a huge rush to do robotics similar to the first wave of iot junk…
@newsynick Nick Turner on x
Investors reacted to this news by (briefly) sending iRobot shares up as much as 17%, presumably because Apple might buy them. But Amazon already tried and failed to get an iRobot acquisition by regulators. Can't imagine Apple would fare much better
@ranimolla Rani Molla on x
The real breakthrough here: “Apple has a secret facility that resembles the inside of a house” https://www.bloomberg.com/...
@raywongy Ray Wong on x
Yes. Do it. Make a cuter and smarter Sony Aibo I say. I don't need an Apple robot vacuum. I want a cute robot dog with the whimsy of R2-D2 [image]
@wholemarsblog @wholemarsblog on x
Hopefully it will be just as successful as the Apple car!
@julianmi2 Julian Brigden on x
Having utterly failed at home integration, the TV, the car, etc., we are now meant to believe it's home robots. I think the word that perfectly sums up #Apple at present is “floundering.” They are a one-trick pony that lives and dies on iPhone sales. [image]
@vadimyuryev Vadim Yuryev on x
By the time Apple releases this robot, Tesla's Optimus robot will already be out and priced so competitively that Apple's version will have no chance, leading to cancellation. Just kidding, we can hope for the best!
@staska Stasys Bielinis on x
Ha. Is AGI already running Apple? Who is this entity “Apple” telling things to its top execs?: “Before the EV project was canceled, Apple told its top executives that the company's future revolved around three areas: automotive, the home and mixed reality.”
@classicii_mrmac Mr. Macintosh on x
@markgurman 6 years from now... BREAKING: Apple cancels 5 billion dollar robotics program becasue it realized no one wanted to spend $5000 on a robot to follow them around all day.
@markgurman Mark Gurman on x
NEW: Apple is exploring home robotics as a potential Next Big Thing after its car project has fizzled. Inside the work on a robot that follows you around, a table-top robotics device and more: https://www.bloomberg.com/...
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