Apple Chose To Create Household Robots Rather Than An Electric Vehicle

Journalist Mark Gurman, known for his interest in Apple products, said that the company is exploring the possibility of entering the personal robotics market, which should be a new large-scale project after the canceled development of an electric car. Gurman’s sources wished to remain anonymous, citing the “secrecy” of the project.

The company wanted to create an autonomous robot that could do housework, such as washing dishes, and follow the user. However, this will require solving complex engineering problems, and this will take years. According to sources, Apple has already developed an advanced desktop robotic device for smart display. It is not yet known whether any of these projects will go into mass production, but it is clear that Apple is looking for new sources of income.

Entering the personal robotics market will allow Apple to take a strong position in people’s homes around the world and take advantage of its own developments in the field of artificial intelligence. As the media note, the company is now in dire need of developing new markets due to pressure from shareholders. The latter are worried about their inability to find new sources of income – current products no longer provide revenue growth. For several years, Apple planned to develop a new market with its own electric car, but the project to create it was closed in February.

Sources at Apple claim that a robotic smart display has been in development for several years, but management is not sure whether it is worth developing this direction at all. One possibility for such a device could be to imitate the other person’s head movements—such as nodding—during a FaceTime call. However, the company doubts that people will be willing to pay huge amounts of money for such a device. In addition, during the development process, technical problems arose related to balancing the drive.

 

Apple won’t be the first company to try to enter the home robotics market. In 2021, Amazon introduced the Astro home robot, priced at $1,600. The company is in no hurry to increase its production, and therefore the device remains a niche product. Last year, Amazon introduced a business version of the robot to work as a security guard.