Apple's first commercialization of 'home robot' goes beyond mountains

The Information, an IT media outlet, reported on the 2nd (local time) that Apple's new CEO John Turners is ambitiously pursuing a robot business, but is having difficulties commercializing it due to delays in software development.

It dates back to 2019 when Apple began developing a robot codenamed J595.

It started out as a FaceTime (video call) device that turns its head according to the user's movements, but has experienced twists and turns as management has ordered it to be equipped with artificial intelligence (AI) functions.

J595 aims to be an 'intelligent assistant' that acts autonomously by recognizing the surrounding situation with cameras and sensors, such as turning on a light by recognizing a person or telling a cat to get down on a table.

Although the hardware was completed two years ago, the software team fought back by saying that there were clear technical limitations in implementing AI functions, but over the past year, they have focused on removing complex functions and lowering the bar, such as FaceTime and simple home appliance control.

Apple is considering setting the price of the robot at $1,000 (about 1.34 million won) and naming it 'Homeview Ultra' after the recently announced stationary device Homeview.

The goal was to launch it next year, but there are speculations that it may be delayed until 2028.

The Information pointed out, “We are repeating the tedious journey that took eight years to launch the Vision Pro headset in the past.”

On the other hand, competitors such as OpenAI and Meta are moving at breakneck speed to dominate the AI ​​robot market.

In the case of OpenAI, the plan is to recruit more than 400 engineers from Apple and launch a donut-shaped AI smart speaker equipped with a camera and moving parts next year.

Following AI glasses and VR headsets, Meta plans to release a small AI device called 'Charm' in December, and Tesla is making its plan to entrust housework to the humanoid robot Optimus a reality.

The Homeview, which came out after Turner's debut, is being criticized as a 'huge Apple Watch with low-performance Siri', the $2,899 touchscreen MacBook is price resistant, and the foldable iPhone Duo is suffering from cracking defects in the folding screen.

The Information quoted an engineer who participated in the J595 project as saying, “Apple is facing a serious internal crisis as it tries to ride the AI ​​craze that it has lagged behind.”