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Macworld
A latest report that Apple has a skunkworks staff doing analysis on robotics has form of set the web on hearth. However the context right here actually issues; the report might be true (Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman is the gold customary of Apple leaks and scuttlebutt) however that doesn’t imply you’re going to be swiping your bank card to take house an Apple Bot anytime quickly. Possibly by no means.
I do know that is the Web in 2024 and meaning all of us simply learn a headline, possibly even have a look at a picture, and instantly kind and share fiercely-held opinions on the matter. However it’s essential to Gurman’s report truly talked about.
First, there have been two merchandise described. One was a “table-top house gadget that makes use of robotics to maneuver a show round.” That sounds rather a lot like this Belkin auto-tracking iPhone stand (and there are many others). Besides extra of a HomePod with its personal show and never an iPhone stand. That’s probably not a giant deal, and the report says the undertaking is a couple of years outdated and has been on-again and off-again since. This isn’t going to be Apple’s Subsequent Huge Factor.
The opposite one is “a cellular robotic that may comply with customers round their properties.” You could be pondering of one thing humanoid like Tesla’s Optimus bot or one thing like SoftBank Robotics’ Pepper. However it actually sounds extra like Amazon’s Astro, a bit three-wheeled “pet” of kinds with a display for a head. Of word: the report describes refined human-like chores like doing dishes as “pie-in-the-sky” and says they have been “unlikely this decade” because of the technical challenges concerned.
The Apple robotics undertaking sounds extra like Amazon’s Astro than Tesla’s Optimus.
The Apple robotics undertaking sounds extra like Amazon’s Astro than Tesla’s Optimus.
Amazon
The Apple robotics undertaking sounds extra like Amazon’s Astro than Tesla’s Optimus.
Amazon
Amazon
The Subsequent Huge Factor usually isn’t
Whereas robotics work inside Apple has been described as a possible “subsequent huge factor,” it’s value noting that these kinds of secret initiatives usually aren’t. Apple simply poured billions of {dollars} and a decade of labor into making a automotive that by no means materialized, in any case. And that was a automotive. There’s undoubtedly a considerable marketplace for an Apple Automobile!
We don’t even know but if folks really need house robots, humanoid or not. Efforts to make mass-market reasonably priced robots have been ongoing for ages and so they’ve by no means caught on. The brand new age of generative AI and new AI strategies could breathe new life into house robots, so to talk, however challenges round nuts-and-bolts bodily stuff like actuators and power use are nonetheless huge challenges and you’ll’t simply wave a transformer mannequin at them.
These initiatives have advantages past the potential merchandise they’re designed for. The automotive undertaking, for instance, led to the Neural Engine {hardware} that has been in each iPhone processor for the previous few years. A few of what makes Imaginative and prescient Professional work apparently got here out of the work on utilizing VR whereas driving, too. Gurman’s report says the robotic undertaking sprang out of the automotive R&D, too, and who is aware of what new capabilities will come from the work executed right here. One might simply think about a successor to the R1 coprocessor contained in the Imaginative and prescient Professional that does sensor fusion and surroundings mapping, constructed right into a chip as a part of the necessities for making a robotic easily navigate nearly any house or workplace.
Is Apple engaged on a robotic (or a number of robotic ideas)? Sure, the job postings alone make that clear. However any undertaking extra refined than a HomePod with a show that all the time faces you is probably going years away, and there’s a good probability it’s going to by no means see the sunshine of day in any respect, however that we’ll see know-how developed for the undertaking in varied different Apple merchandise.
Apple Inc, Robotics
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