Everything You Need To Know About Apple Home Robots

Creating a robot helper is an old-new obsession of top tech companies. It has been reported that Apple robots may actually become a reality soon. As the brand is trying to give the customers the “next big thing,” a smart Apple home robot is in the works. Yes, the one that does the chores and interacts with you, an ultimate IoT triumph.

But what will the Apple home robots look like? And what will be their features exactly? Here’s everything you need to know about the Apple home robot.

Apple is focusing on robotics and AI

The industry started talking about Apple home robots when Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who’s among the most authoritative voices on all things Cupertino-based company, published an article detailing the steps taken by Apple in the advanced robotics direction. 

It turned out that the brand has a dedicated team run by John Giannandrea that is working on AI-related projects and robotics. Moreover, this hardware division is overseen by Matt Costello and Brian Lynch who both specialize in home-focused products.

Also, Apple has published several robotics and AI jobs on its website. Like the Robotics Research Engineer who’s going to be focused on the “intersection of modern machine learning and robotics to shape the AI that will power the next generation of Apple products.”

Now the “next generation” from the description may be the Apple home robots.

Why is Apple looking into home robots?

The release of Vision Pro showed that the Tim Cook-led company is not afraid to break the conventional and that it is ready to release risky products that may not have customer familiarity and cost a bit more. But Vision Pro was released. EV wasn’t. 

And it’s the decade-long quest to develop an electric car that can explain in part the new company’s shift in the home robots direction. Apple spent more than $10 billion on EV research. The project never took off, not one car was produced and the company shut down the whole thing for good in February 2024.

While with a $3.1 trillion evaluation, $10 billion is like a bad restaurant date kind of expense, the strive for finding a new product category that can bring more income and open new possibilities is strong. And Apple home robots may be just that.

According to the Bloomberg article, the top three directions where Apple invested in research were EV, mixed reality, and home. EV didn’t make it, the Vision Pro was released, it’s the home chunk of the market that the company is interested in at the moment.

Also, we wrote earlier that the new Apple TV will reportedly feature a FaceTime camera, yet another indication of Apple’s pivoting into the smart home space.

What will the Apple home robots do?

According to Gurman, the company is currently developing two types of personal home robots. 

Moving Apple home robot

The first model Apple is focused on is the so-called “moving” robot. It will be able to move around the house, have videoconferencing capabilities, interact with the user through AI-powered Siri, and even help with household chores. 

Or, paraphrasing Cardi B’s verse in “WAP” “I do cook, I do clean.”

How it will be possible? Well, Apple banks on AI and machine learning for this one. Probably, the robot will be equipped with technology that will allow him to go around the house using the camera to do that. Most likely, it will have an iPad-like screen as a “face.” 

Tabletop Apple robot

While the first concept of self-navigating robot helper sounds futuristic, the second thing Apple is reportedly developing is basically a moving display that is designed to facilitate videoconferencing. The most groundbreaking feature here would be the fact that the camera will trace your head movements and “mimic” them when you’re on FaceTime, for instance.

In other words, it’s a blow at Amazon’s Echo Show 10, another smart home device with a moving screen. Is it a robot that can conquer the world? Probably not. Will it come in handy for those who’d like to improve their IoT experience? Most likely.

Apple’s secret facility for home devices

Reportedly, the iPhone-selling company operates a secret hub in Cupertino to test the home devices. According to Gurman, Apple has a site that resembles home and is used to brainstorm and realize all of the company’s smart home endeavors.

Coveted operations are part of Apple’s process for new products. In 2019, it was reported that the company has a secret manufacturing facility in Santa Clara to design their own microLED displays for Apple Watches. 

It would be very interesting to see this “smart home” site and have a look at the company’s prototypes there.

Is the Apple home robot poised for success? 

To measure the potential success of Apple home robots, it’s important to take a look at the previous smart home robotic efforts of other companies. Spoiler alert: they largely failed to spark mainstream interest. 

We’ve got 2021-released Amazon Astro presently sold for $1,600. While its main purpose is monitoring and security, it can do vacuum-cleaning and mopping too. Currently, you can only get it by invitation and it’s quite an indication of failure to amass the widespread purchasing.

Other home robots are too small to be taken seriously. There is Jibo, Aibo robotic dog, and Roomba robot vacuum. They are mostly sensationalist pieces of tech you would take a video of at CES rather than “the next iPhone” moment.

All that is both good and bad news for Apple. The good news is that Cupertino company can change the market and give consumers a smart robot they actually want. The bad news is that maybe, at the end of the day, people simply don’t need a smart robot.