Musing on an Apple Robot
The Bondi Blue Apple Robot
Imagine an Apple Robot companion to help the masses with errands, clean up around the house, feed the dog, and more. Let’s dream a little.
I’ve been an Apple fan since my family had an Apple IIe in the 80’s, and Apple stock owner since 1995. I owned an original Apple iMac Bondi Blue. So, I have been deeply into the company for years, through the good times and bad. They have been a great innovator by making existing technology tools easier to use. Rarely the first to market, but often the excellent fast-follower.
The thing is they have not produced a brand new consumer product adopted by the masses since the Apple Watch 10 years ago. This does not mean they have stopped innovating - think Vision Pro, the (former) Apple Car team, Apple Car Play Ultra, The Apple Watch, etc. So, besides iterations of the iPhone and other computer products, what could be next for the masses?
I often consider what any given company could produce that would fit within their line up and perhaps be popular. This week, after I read an article of a personal rolling trunk or sherpa robot on wheels created by the company who makes the Vespa, my mind started wandering toward Apple.
I mean, this robot is “meh”, but has some cool visual tech that allows it to map its environment in real time and follow a person through cameras. And it gets a decent amount of battery life (7 hours). It inspired me to think about an Apple Robot.
Think of what Apple already possesses:
Visual real time 3-D mapping (Vision Pro)
Maps and geography of the world (Apple Maps)
Proximity beacons through Beacons and Bluetooth
Designs, patents and knowledge for moveable parts (through the Apple Car project and manufacturing robots)
Privacy and encryption (to ensure the robot is not saving its footage of us)
Apple Intelligence (although a sad example of AI, it will get there)
Proven experience in creating seemless human/tech interfaces
Developer’s toolkits (just need RobotKit)
All they need is to fix their AI, bring together those hardware and software engineers, decide on a simple starting form factor, and begin cranking them out. One feature that could be cool is if the robot comes as a more or less generic functional being (like a young adult) which then learns from your lifestyle and habits and develops its own personality to match it, so no two Apple Robots are the same after 6 months to a year. The learning about you would of course all be encrypted, and probably the only robot company I would trust to do this privately.
I think it could be pretty cool to have a robot companion made by Apple to help around the house and drive me places. A man can dream…
