Apple has apparently given the internal green light to the project of a new product category. As the financial news agency Bloomberg writes, a “tabletop robot” is being planned that could hit the market as early as 2026. The idea has been circulating in the rumor market since spring. It is believed to be a combination of HomePod, iPad and robotic arm. The system could be based on similar devices from Amazon (Echo Show 10) or Meta (Portal, discontinued), but aligned with the user.
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“Go” from the Executive Suite.
According to Bloomberg, the plan is for an as-yet-unknown product Rotate 360 degrees and tilt the display up and down Can. The Vision is a “smart home command center” that is also a “video conferencing machine” as well as a remotely controlled home security device (via integrated camera). The code name is J595. Internally it was decided that it should come in 2022, but the project has now been in the “ramp up” phase for the past few months. CEO Tim Cook and hardware boss John Turnus were in favor of the idea, even if the marketing team was initially unsure whether there was a market for such a product. The software team had to find the resources needed to develop the firmware.
According to Bloomberg, the project is led by Kevin Lynch. Former Adobe Manager Before taking over the Apple Car project as the new supervisor, he had already taken care of the Apple Watch software very successfully, but then was unable to save it. Lynch’s appointment is a sign that Apple supports this project. The vice president of technology has already grabbed staff from the Apple Watch team to create a “tabletop robot”. In turn, Lynch will have to report to Apple’s AI boss John Giannandrea.
The table robot follows every word
Apple should think about around $1,000 as the price range. If the 2026 launch date is no longer possible, the device should hit the market in 2027. While operating the device, it is planned to listen to voice commands, such as “Look at me”. Current prototypes are believed to run with customized iPadOS. The hardware should be able to distinguish between different people. Apple is planning more robotics projects, including systems that move around the house.
Even humanoid systems have been discussed. These projects would be led by a former Apple Car employee: according to Bloomberg, there is a team of 100 people under Hans Wolfram Tappeiner. Apple is also looking at Robotics ExpertWhich aims to develop “generalizable and reliable” robot systems based on novel machine learning models. Apple’s competitor Amazon recently decided to turn its home robot Astro into a night watchman.
(B.Sc.)
