Bloomberg: Apple targeting sub-$1,000 price for iPad-like robotic home device

Apple is moving forward with its plans for home robotics, according to a new report from Bloomberg. Apple is reportedly ramping up its work on a tabletop smart home device with a robotic arm, which would serve as a “smart home command center, videoconferencing machine and remote-controlled home security tool.”

Apple’s personal robotics ambitions were first detailed in April when Bloomberg reported that Apple was exploring a “mobile robot that can follow users around their homes.” Apple is also reportedly developing a HomePod-like device with a screen that can swivel like a robotic arm.

Today’s report focuses on Apple’s work on a tabletop home device. Mark Gurman reports that Apple has a “team of several hundred people” working on a “pricey tabletop home device that combines an iPad-like display with a robotic limb.”

Gurman explains that the product’s display will be able to tilt up and down and spin 360 degrees with an actuator and a “thin robotic arm to move around a large display.”

Apple executives reportedly approved this project in 2022, but work began ramping up 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 officially shut down in February after more than a decade.

Apple’s hardware engineering 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 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.

Apple’s goal is that users will primarily interact with this device using Siri and other Apple Intelligence features. It currently runs a modified version of iPadOS, and could reportedly include features like voice recognition and the “look at me” command to “focus on the person saying the words.”

Apple is targeting a release date of 2026 or 2027 for this tabletop home device and is “looking to get the price down to around $1,000,” the report says. Given that the timeline is still multiple years away, Apple’s plans could change.

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