Apple is Building a $1,000 Display on a Voice-Controlled Robot Arm (yahoo.com) 43
Apple is building "a pricey tabletop home device" which uses "a thin robotic arm to move around a large screen," using actuators "to tilt the display up and down and make it spin 360 degree," according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Citing "people with knowledge of the matter," Gurman writes that Apple assigned "several hundred people" to the project:
The device is envisioned as a smart home command center, videoconferencing machine and remote-controlled home security tool, said the people... 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... 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... 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...
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.
The article calls points out that Apple "still gets roughly half its revenue from the iPhone," and calls the robotics effort "one of a few avenues Apple is pursuing to generate new sources of revenue" — and to "capitalize" on its AI technology. (Apple is also working on both smart eyeglasses and augmented reality galsses.)
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... 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...
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.
The article calls points out that Apple "still gets roughly half its revenue from the iPhone," and calls the robotics effort "one of a few avenues Apple is pursuing to generate new sources of revenue" — and to "capitalize" on its AI technology. (Apple is also working on both smart eyeglasses and augmented reality galsses.)
I would buy one (Score:1)
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The device is envisioned as a smart home command center, videoconferencing machine and remote-controlled home security tool, said the people...
My home has many HomeKit devices, and the whole house is made smart by it. Smart thermostats, every light switch, the fans, the shower, and HomeBridge for the oven, the dishwasher, the pool, the garage door, etc... This sounds fantastic. I currently have 3 iPads on the wall in various places (took forever to print a wall mount I liked that I can pull the iPad off and use it wherever, stick it back on the wall and it charges), so guests and the kids can work what they need. We also use it for managing music
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But you'd buy one (after you already dropped
Wha? You don't know what it it, but you'll buy it becauuse....
It's Apple.
You people literally have more money than brains.
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smart home command center, videoconferencing machine and remote-controlled home security tool
Vs.
You don't know what it it, but you'll buy it becauuse....
I have more money than brains, but you cant read TFS.
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You people literally have more money than brains.
That's probably not a good use of the word literally.
Lord knows, it would be MUCH cheaper than the two Pro XDRs I bought. Hell this costs less than their stands.
I know you read that as he's going to buy it, but that's NOT what was said.
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Lord knows, it would be MUCH cheaper than the two Pro XDRs I bought. Hell this costs less than their stands.
Good Point.
Portal? (Score:3)
This sounds an awful lot like the facebook portal devices.
Weekend Project (Score:3)
I can see an advantage for us 'adhd' brain types who don't sit still for a 2-hr zoom session.
Stick a stereo webcam and screen on something like this guy [amzn.to] with an ESP32 and then start with a 'louder of left/right' algorithm to track the speaker or wire up an open machine vision stack to actually do object tracking.
Many lecturers could benefit as well (those who think by walking) but also the viewer could benefit too because the default now is to frame the video in the entire possible walking area, unless you
Re:Weekend Project (Score:4, Insightful)
Many lecturers could benefit as well (those who think by walking) but also the viewer could benefit too because the default now is to frame the video in the entire possible walking area, unless you have a diligent and dedicated cameraman.
FYI there have been devices available that do this for more than a decade - a friend of mine, who's a cameraman and video producer, owns a couple. He's talked about how the number of video crew members he has to hire for multi-camera setups keeps going down.
He still prefers to have one actual human on the main camera; and apparently sound engineers' jobs are currently still safe... although that seems like something that current AIs might be able to take on, if given the proper interface.
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Many lecturers could benefit as well (those who think by walking) but also the viewer could benefit too because the default now is to frame the video in the entire possible walking area, unless you have a diligent and dedicated cameraman.
FYI there have been devices available that do this for more than a decade - a friend of mine, who's a cameraman and video producer, owns a couple. He's talked about how the number of video crew members he has to hire for multi-camera setups keeps going down.
He still prefers to have one actual human on the main camera; and apparently sound engineers' jobs are currently still safe... although that seems like something that current AIs might be able to take on, if given the proper interface.
And what's the price tag and also the usability by Normies quotient for that gear?
And you already confirmed at least one Proven Market.
So, not a Stupid Project Thanks!
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I can see an advantage for us 'adhd' brain types who don't sit still for a 2-hr zoom session.
Stick a stereo webcam and screen on something like this guy [amzn.to] with an ESP32 and then start with a 'louder of left/right' algorithm to track the speaker or wire up an open machine vision stack to actually do object tracking.
Many lecturers could benefit as well (those who think by walking) but also the viewer could benefit too because the default now is to frame the video in the entire possible walking area, unless you have a diligent and dedicated cameraman.
We talked about trying to do this with a servo on a tripod for our local LUG about fifteen years ago but at that time the cheap-enough CPU's weren't quite ready.
This is the other way to provide the "intelligent pan/tilt/zoom" feature that Apple first tried to do with wide-angle lenses and crafty Digital PTZ.
This could work much better.
And as a "Following TelePrompTer", with simultaneous ability to LiveStream the Presenter, it could be a Potent Presentation/Tele-Education Tool!
At a Workstation, Lab Bench, Workout Room. Operating Theater, etc "Work Cell", having a Display that tries to "aim" at you (while maintaining a certain distance) could be Quite Nice. . .
Shall
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Smarthome stuff? (Score:2)
The future! (Score:1)
The future always looked cool back in the second half of the 1900's. Video phones, robots in the home, Johnny Cab, personal electronic assistants, talking computers, flying cars, instant access to data, etc... Here we are in the future with many of these things available and some seemingly right around the corner. There's a problem with this future though ... shit hole tech companies have gained control of this future. The future was supposed to be fun and full of wonder. But instead we get billionaires and
Predictions are usually tough; this one's easy (Score:2)
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Does an Apple HomePod count? If so, how many security problems have been reported with that? Seems to me a great opportunity to back up a claim with actual data.
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There's no reason to think that whatever Apple thinks they're building will be different.)
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof. Of course, there isn't any, which is why you made the claim without including any proof. Apple has by far the lowest number of exploits of any device or computer vendor.
Weren't we supposed to replace all our screens (Score:1)
with giant $3,500 dork goggles? Did Apple change their vision of the future?
EXTRY! EXTRY! (Score:2)
Let's Hope Apple's Arm Is Better (Score:3)
Obligatory Big Bang Theory episode clip
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
Robotic Turing Test (Score:2)
We're decades away from a single robot that can accomplish all of the following tasks:
1. From a table on which there are about 20 screws of varying sizes strewn about, pick up only the eyeglass frame screw.
2. Insert and screw it into an eyeglass frame using a screwdriver picked up from the table.
3. Insert DRAM into a motherboard.
4. From a small bag of various trinkets, feel around and pick out only the rubber band from it.
5. Get one Tylenol out of a pill bottle.
6. Sculpt and shape a recognizable face on a p
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That may be true, but does it really matter? Maybe we're decades away from a robot sculptor, but we're pretty close to a robot that can find you, chase you down on broken terrain and pump you full of holes with an on-board machine gun.
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I think we're about a decade maybe even two decades from a robot like that -- let alone mass production of it. The Boston Dynamic gimmick robot has no chance in real terrain and combat.
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I suspect this is one of those situations that could go a couple of ways. Business as usual would mean you're right. If there was a good reason to push hard, though, turning one of the various "gimmick robots" into a serious weapon could probably be done faster...let's say seven to ten years rather than ten to twenty.
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Depends on how you define 'single' robot.
One computer can drive 10 sets of manipulators
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Do you know any robot that can do "4. From a small bag of various trinkets, feel around and pick out only the rubber band from it." ... a 6 year old can do that.
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His name is Andrew.
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Actually, pretty much all of those hinge on how advanced the hardware of the hands is. I'm not saying it is going to be easy to fix, but only a few technological developments/improvements are necessary to clear the bar.
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Yeah, umm .. if it's only a few tech developments/improvements why don't you do it? Note .. you stand to make millions or even billions just from all the manufacturing, factory, and product assembly companies that will be clamoring for it. Note a dextrous hand needs at least 27 degrees of freedom .. the next version of Optimus (Tesla's robot) will have a 22 DoF hand .. and even that would be inadequate in my opinion. So if you can make a dextrous hand with 27 (or higher) DoF, sensor feedback, AND high contr
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That's kind of a shitty reply. I explicitly said it's not going to be easy and whether or not I can do it personally is completely irrelevant.
The point is that it could be very soon because there are only a few technological (r)evolutions required. If there were a 100 of those, it would be pretty safe to say that it is unlikely for all of them to happen next year.
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"agile journalism" (Score:2)
Take a rumor, spin a big imaginary bubble around it, and then "scoop the opposition." That's Bloomberg's approach, and Gurman is a master at it.
It doesn't matter if it's true (remember the Bloomberg hit piece on Supermicro servers? To this day, Bloomberg has never backed down from a story that literally everyone involved has denied.) It just matters whether the story brings in clicks, and in particular appeals to day traders who will try to make money off the rumor and pay Bloomberg the big bucks for an
expect ... (Score:2)
The company is looking to get the price down to around $1,000. But with years to go before an expected release
... a $15,000 flex tablet display called "apple gyrovision pro", with no apps but a "spatial rendering sdk" available for $150 a month.
It is a good idea to combine security with this (Score:2)
I had read about it before and was pretty dubious about the usefulness of it. But for family zoom calls, and a security camera that can go 360 in a room to track intruders, and a HomeKit control center to adjust temperature, maybe there starts to be enough to make it useful and just just a gimmick.
I never did buy a HomePod, will have to see if this next gen version is more appealing.
Oh look (Score:1)
Another useless Apple product that no one wants or needs. It'll never get down to $1000, that's for damn sure, and just like the Vision Pro, it'll be something a little bit neat and a whole lot of useless.
Sign me up (Score:1)
I can pay $1000 for a web camera on a robot arm that can look around my place any time it wants? Sign me up!
it will be a huge success and a game changer just (Score:2)
oh look it's the G4 iMac (Score:2)
that's what it sounds like, at least