Robotics for the home: Apple is looking for more engineers

Apple's job advertisements traditionally always provide clues as to what the iPhone manufacturer is currently focusing on in its still secret projects. While there has been speculation about Apple's car project in recent years, for example, new appointments of various car engineers and managers have raised the temperature of the rumor mill. Currently, experts are focusing their attention on new job advertisements seeking robotics specialists.

The US financial news agency Bloomberg reports that Apple is currently looking to expand its team of robotics specialists. This could be an indication that development is being intensified. For example, a new robotics engineer with a focus on iOS is being sought. Rumor has it that Apple could present its first products in this direction as early as this year.

More and more robotics rumors

In recent months, there have been repeated reports about Apple's alleged plans to launch a robot in the smart home sector. This could, for example, be a kind of hub for the control system that holds a screen up to the user.

The rumors were recently fueled by a video published by the machine learning team at Apple. Using a kind of desk lamp, it shows how a robot can interact with humans to signal answers or support them in their work.

AI models were also announced in this way

This smart lamp, which resembles the iconic lamp from Pixar's animated films, is just a feasibility study. But it shows that Apple, which is reluctant to reveal its development plans, is actually working on the topic. In the run-up to the presentation of Apple Intelligence in 2024, Apple researchers also published various research papers on generative language models. As it turned out, some of these LLMs are included in Apple Intelligence, which has been rolled out in stages since fall 2024.

Apple's robotics team is to be led by Kevin Lynch. The Vice President for Technology is best known for the Apple Watch, whose innovations he has presented several times in Apple presentations. Lynch is also said to have played a role as crisis manager in Apple's car project, which was never made public.

(mki)