According to a new report from Apple, Apple is pushing ahead with its home robotics plans. BloombergApple is reportedly stepping up work on a smart home desktop device with a robotic arm that will serve as a “smart home command center, video conferencing device, and remote home security tool.”
Apple’s ambitions in personal robotics were first detailed in April, when Bloomberg reported that Apple is researching a “mobile robot that can follow users around their homes.” Apple is also reportedly developing a HomePod-like device with a screen that can rotate like a robotic arm.
Today’s report focuses on Apple’s work on a home tablet device. Mark Gurman reports that Apple has a “team of several hundred people” working on an “expensive home tablet device that combines an iPad-like display with a robotic limb.”
Gurman explains that the product’s display can tilt up and down and rotate 360 degrees using an actuator and a “thin robotic arm that moves around a large display.”
Apple executives reportedly approved this project in 2022, but work has picked up pace in recent months. The work is being led by Kevin Lynch, Apple’s vice president of technology. Lynch also led the Apple Car project, which was officially canceled in February after more than a decade.
Apple’s hardware development team is also involved in the project, including Matt Costello, who currently leads HomePod development.
The hardware engineering group is also involved. Matt Costello, an executive who leads development of Apple’s HomePod smart speaker, is overseeing the hardware side of the project. The company is also working on robots that move around the home and has discussed the idea of a humanoid version. These projects are led in part by Hanns Wolfram Tappeiner, a robotics expert who now has about 100 former automotive team engineers reporting to him.
Apple’s goal is for users to interact with this device primarily through Siri and other Apple Intelligence features. It currently runs a modified version of iPadOS and could reportedly include features such as voice recognition and the “look at me” command to “focus on the person saying the words.”
Apple is targeting a 2026 or 2027 release date for this home desktop device and is “trying to get the price down to around $1,000,” the report says. Since the timeline is still several years away, Apple’s plans could change.
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