Apple Ramps Up Hiring for Work on Home Robotics Devices

Apple has been ramping up hiring for its robotics research and engineering teams to help spur the development of home robotics devices, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.

Apple Robot Thumb 1
The company is currently in the early stages of developing a tabletop robot and has its sights set on potentially creating a humanoid model in the future.

The robotics work is being spearheaded by two departments within Apple: the Home Labs hardware engineering group and Kevin Lynch's AI special projects team. These teams originated from Apple's now-defunct self-driving car unit, which was disbanded last February.

Over the past several weeks, Apple has posted numerous job listings for robotics specialists, stating that new hires will have "the opportunity to work with a small team of highly skilled engineers and scientists to bring new experiences to Apple products."

Last month, a team of robotics researchers at Apple published a research paper and accompanying video showcasing a lamp-like robot prototype with lifelike movements. The robot, reminiscent of Pixar's mascot Luxo Jr., demonstrates various interactions with a person, such as responding to weather inquiries, providing lighting for iPhone photography, reminding the person to drink water, and even dancing along to music as a social companion.

While the research paper provided a glimpse into Apple's robotics experimentation, Gurman has previously reported that the company is developing a tabletop robot with an "iPad-like display" attached to a robotic limb. This device, which could launch by 2027, is expected to be primarily controlled with Siri and Apple Intelligence, with the ability to respond to commands like "look at me" during FaceTime video calls.

Gurman believes Apple's tabletop robot is likely to be something closer to a HomePod smart speaker with a screen attached to a robotic limb, and it could turn out to be a higher-end version of Apple's rumored smart home hub, which is expected to launch this year.

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Top Rated Comments

nt5672 Avatar
22 weeks ago
Can we just go ahead and get to the part where 2 years later nothing useful has been released so the project has been cancelled.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
FloridaScrubJay Avatar
22 weeks ago
This all seems silly.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
HobeSoundDarryl Avatar
22 weeks ago

Not feeling it.. but rather judge actual products than idle speculation. Now if it pours me a drink, I’m in! Shaken not stirred Robbie…
"I don't know what you mean by mistaken assured. Here's what I found on the web for mistaken assured."
"No shaken... SHAKEN!"
"I don't know what you mean by bacon, bacon. Here's what I found on the web for bacon, bacon."
"No... um... well... bacon. ♥️♥️♥️

And when you post this sequence on a forum, the usual 10 or 20 guys will spin YOUR mistake and/or tout Apple bacon as the one and only good bacon. ;)
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
HiVolt Avatar
22 weeks ago

This all seems silly.
Seems "Apple Car" silly.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Blackstick Avatar
22 weeks ago
Apple would never allow this to look like an iMac G4, because then people would demand a redesigned iMac.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
neuropsychguy Avatar
22 weeks ago
I’ll be disappointed if Apple does not release a product called iRobot.

/yes, I know that won’t happen because of Roomba’s trademark, but maybe Apple would buy Roomba and get it (not saying Apple should do that).
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)