Apple Pushes Ahead With Tabletop Robot in Search of New Revenue

16 Aug 2024

Apple Inc., seeking new sources of revenue, is moving forward with development of a pricey tabletop home device that combines an iPad-like display with a robotic limb.

The company now has a team of several hundred people working on the device, which uses a thin robotic arm to move around a large screen, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The product, which relies on actuators to tilt the display up and down and make it spin 360 degrees, would offer a twist on home products like Amazon.com Inc.’s Echo Show 10 and Meta Platforms Inc.’s discontinued Portal.

The device is envisioned as a smart home command center, videoconferencing machine and remote-controlled home security tool, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the work isn’t public. The project — codenamed J595 — was approved by Apple’s executive team in 2022 but has started to formally ramp up in recent months, they said.

The shift into robotics is part of a broader effort to boost sales and capitalize on Apple Intelligence, a suite of artificial intelligence technology that’s coming to the iPhone, iPad and Mac this year. The company also is seeking new growth opportunities after ending efforts to develop a self-driving car earlier this year.

Apple Looking for Ways to Boost Revenue Growth | Sales have slowed since a tech spending boom during the pandemic

A spokesperson for Cupertino, California-based Apple declined to comment.

Apple’s industrial design team has been exploring tabletop robotic concepts for years, but there wasn’t consensus within the company — including the software engineering organization and marketing teams — over whether to move forward.

Apple’s marketing group was concerned that consumers wouldn’t be willing to pay for such a product. Top software engineering executives, meanwhile, fretted about the staffing resources it would require to build the necessary software. But Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook is seen as a proponent of the device — as is John Ternus, the company’s head of hardware engineering.

Read More: Apple Explores Robots as ‘Next Big Thing’ After Car Fizzles

Apple has now decided to prioritize the device’s development and is aiming for a debut as early as 2026 or 2027, according to the people. The company is looking to get the price down to around $1,000. But with years to go before an expected release, the plans could theoretically change.

In a sign of support, Apple has made the project the sole responsibility of Kevin Lynch, a veteran executive. He serves as vice president of technology and oversaw the self-driving car and, until recently, Apple’s smartwatch and health software engineering efforts.

Lynch recently enlisted key lieutenants who helped launch the Apple Watch to work on the tabletop robot, as well as well-known robotics researchers and engineers. Lynch reports to John Giannandrea, Apple’s head of artificial intelligence.

The idea is for the tabletop product to be primarily controlled using the Siri digital assistant and upcoming features in Apple Intelligence. The device could respond to commands, such as “look at me,” by repositioning the screen to focus on the person saying the words — say, during a video call. It also could understand different voices and adjust its focus accordingly. Current models in testing run a customized version of the iPad operating system.

Meta Opens Retail Store To Showcase Virtual Reality Hardware — Apple’s robotic device would be a twist on products like the Meta Portal, which was discontinued.

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 also is working on robots that move around the home and has discussed the idea of a humanoid version. Those projects are being led, in part, by Hanns Wolfram Tappeiner, a robotics expert who now has about 100 former car team engineers reporting to him.

In a job listing published this month, Apple said it has a team “working to leverage and build upon groundbreaking machine learning robotics research, thereby enabling development of generalizable and reliable robot systems.” The company said it’s seeking experts with experience in “robot manipulation” and creating AI models for robot control.

Lynch has been entrusted with some of Apple’s biggest projects. He was instrumental in bringing the first Apple Watch to market in 2015 and was tapped in 2021 to oversee the car effort.

Luxury Companies Ahead Of Earnings — Apple has been exploring the idea of smart glasses that could rival Meta’s spectacles, a partnership with Ray-Ban.

Under Lynch, the car project made progress — though the product’s ambitions were also reduced along the way. But by 2024, costs had added up to at least $10 billion and the car industry suffered a slowdown. There were concerns about Apple being able to stand out in a crowded field, and management decided to shut down the initiative in a rare high-profile retreat.

The capabilities of the tabletop device have been in flux as well. Some people involved in the project say the features have been scaled back from initial ambitions, with one person describing the development process as a roller-coaster ride.

Read More: Apple’s AI Push Sets Stage for Everything From Glasses to Robots

Others within Apple still question whether the device will appeal to consumers and whether the company really needs another tablet-like product. Though the new Vision Pro headset melds virtual and augmented reality, it ultimately duplicates the features of an iPad.

Apple also has had trouble cracking the market for smart-home devices. Its HomePod speakers haven’t sold as well as models from Amazon and Alphabet Inc.’s Google, and the Apple TV set-top box lags behind Roku Inc. devices and other rivals.

The robotics effort is one of a few avenues Apple is pursuing to generate new sources of revenue.

The company is also working on augmented reality glasses, as well as exploring less ambitious products like smart glasses that would be similar to Meta’s Ray-Ban spectacles. That product — which Meta has described as a hit — stops short of offering a true AR experience but let users make phone calls and capture video.

In addition, Apple is looking to create a version of its AirPods earbuds that include cameras, letting them better sense the outside world. And it’s working on a giant, foldable iPad — something that might not arrive until 2027 or 2028 at the earliest, according to people with knowledge of the effort.

Apple still gets roughly half its revenue from the iPhone, which has sold sluggishly in recent quarters. The company is planning to launch new models in September that feature better cameras, processors and displays. But that’s only expected to generate modest growth.

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