We learned this week that Apple is putting some focus on personal robotics after shutting down its Apple Car division. It's early days for the skunkworks robotics project, but what's your gut reaction, will the investment pay off? Or, most likely, everything will end up as the Apple Car dreams?
Apple is reportedly studying two personal robotics products – a “mobile robot” . which can spy on users throughout their home” and “a modern desktop home device that uses robotics to move the display”; (via Mark Gurman)
The latter is further along in development, but both will need Apple executives’ approval before becoming a good faith effort.
My colleague Ben wrote this morning that “a truly useful and capable home robot is an even bigger challenge than a self-driving car.” Why?
- First, the dream of personal robots has evolved less than that of autonomous vehicles in the 100 or so years since people began dreaming about these technologies.
- Second, a truly useful home robot will need to be significantly beyond the capabilities of current products such as robot vacuum cleaners, smart home devices, etc., and at a price that would be worth it (over some time frame) compared to hiring a house cleaning service.
However, this is only because we have not seen significant growth in personal robotics in recent decades and there are notable challenges in creating mass robotics. a marketable product doesn't mean the likelihood of Apple being able to figure it out is zero. Maybe Apple, combining its hardware expertise with next-generation artificial intelligence, can help?
