Apple reportedly exploring personal home robots

Apple
is
exploring
the
development
of
personal
home
robots
after
ditching
its
electric
vehicle
project,
Bloomberg

reported
Wednesday.

Engineers
at
Apple
have
been
looking
into
a
robot
that
can
follow
users
around
their
homes
and
a
tabletop
device
that
uses
robotics
to
adjust
a
display
screen,
Bloomberg
reported,
citing
people
familiar
with
the
research
team.

Apple
in
February

shut
down
its
team
working
on
electric
cars,
called
Special
Projects
Group,
another
one
of
its
moonshots.
Reports
of
the
secretive
program,
which
employed
thousands
of
employees,
first

surfaced
in
2014 after
Apple
recruited
automotive
engineers
among
others
in
relevant
roles.

Apple’s
car
project
was
part
of
an
internal
effort
to
expand
into
new
product
markets.
In
recent
years,
the
company
has
also
invested
heavily
in
products
and
services
like
its
Apple
Watch
and
Vision
Pro
virtual
reality
headset.
The
Vision
Pro,
however,
will
likely
take
years
to
create
meaningful
revenue.

Apple’s
hardware
engineering
division
and
its
artificial
intelligence
and
machine
learning
group
are
overseeing
the
work
on
personal
robotics,
Bloomberg
reported.
The
home
robot
project
is
still
in
the
early
research
and
development
phase,
according
to
the
report.

Other
tech
companies
have
also
explored
home
robots.

Amazon
introduced
its
$1,600
Astro
home
robot
in
2021,
which
is
essentially
a
smart
display
on
wheels
that
can
answer
Alexa
commands.
Almost
three
years
from
its
debut,
the
device
remains
available
in
limited
quantities
on
an
invite-only
basis.
An
executive
overseeing
the
project
departed
Amazon
last
May,
and
in
November,
the
company
launched
a
version
of
Astro
for
businesses
akin
to
a
roving
security
guard.

Apple
declined
to
comment.

Read
Bloomberg’s
full
report
here.

—
CNBC’s
Kif
Leswing
and
Annie
Palmer
contributed
reporting.