Apple is exploring personal home robots after ditching its electric vehicle project.
Engineers at Apple have been looking into a robot that can follow users around their homes and a tabletop device that uses robotics to adjust a display screen.
Apple is reportedly exploring personal home robots after ditching its electric vehicle project. Engineers at Apple have been looking into a robot that can follow users around their homes and a tabletop device that uses robotics to adjust a display screen. The company's hardware engineering division and its artificial intelligence and machine learning group are overseeing the work on personal robotics, Bloomberg reported.
Apple is exploring personal robotics as a new source of revenue after abandoning plans to develop an electric vehicle.
, Apple has started working on a mobile robot that can follow users around their home and developed a table-top device that uses a robot to move a screen around for better video call experience.
The company's home devices group is in charge of developing these robots, with at least one engineer from its scrapped EV initiative joining the team.
, Apple executives are still unsure about whether people would pay top dollar for these robots and can't agree on whether to keep working on them.
The company has put all focus on the Vision Pro and new products for the home, including a home hub device with an iPad-like display.
Accuracy
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Deception
(30%)
The article is deceptive in several ways. Firstly, the author claims that Apple is developing personal robots for your home based on a report by Bloomberg. However, there are no sources cited to support this claim and it's not clear if the information provided by Bloomberg is accurate or reliable.
Apple is still on the hunt for the next revolutionary product
It reportedly started looking into robots and electric vehicles at the same time
Fallacies
(70%)
The article contains several fallacies. The first is an appeal to authority when it states that Bloomberg reported the information about Apple's robotics projects. While this may be true, there is no evidence presented in the article to support these claims beyond a single source.
>Apple has already started working on a mobile robot that can follow users around their home and had already developed a table-top device that uses a robot to move a screen around. The idea behind the latter is to have a machine that can mimic head movements and can lock on to a single person in a group, presumably for better video call experience.
>Robots aren't like phones in the sense that people these days need them in their lives.
Bias
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The article contains examples of monetary bias and religious bias. The author mentions that Apple is looking to develop personal robots as a new source of revenue after abandoning plans for an electric vehicle. This suggests that the company's primary motivation for exploring robotics is financial gain rather than innovation or solving a problem. Additionally, the article notes that Apple has been working on table-top devices and mobile robots, which could be seen as examples of religious bias since these technologies are often associated with science fiction and futuristic concepts.
Apple is still on the hunt for the next revolutionary product to help it remain dominant in the market
It reportedly started looking into robots and electric vehicles at the same time, with hopes of developing a machine that doesn't need human intervention.
Apple's electric vehicle ambitions have failed despite seeming to have everything going for it.
The jury is still out on the ultimate fate of Apple's Vision Pro, but at least its mixed reality headset demonstrates that the company isn't afraid to keep trying where pretty much everyone else has failed.
Apple is reportedly exploring yet another notoriously difficult path: home robots. The category is both unique and uniquely difficult for a number of reasons.
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No Contradictions at Time
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Deception
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None Found At Time Of
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Fallacies
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The article discusses Apple's failed electric car project and the company's exploration of home robots. The author highlights the difficulty in creating a successful robot for this category due to form factor limitations and lack of useful features. The article also mentions examples such as Matic, which is trying to improve its vantage point by making the robot taller, but faces challenges with mobile manipulation and navigation in unstructured environments like homes.
Matic's case for building a home robot on top of Roomba functionality
The fact that Hello Robotics Stretch is prohibitively expensive at $24,950
Amazon Astro's periscope camera as an example of how form factor can limit robot functionality
Bias
(85%)
The article discusses Apple's failed electric car project and their exploration of home robots. The author uses the example of Roomba as a success story in the robot vacuum category to highlight how difficult it is for companies to succeed in this field. They mention Matic, a startup that believes taller robots will improve vantage point and make them more versatile than current designs. The article also mentions Hello Robotics' Stretch, which uses an imaging system and arm that moves up and down to clasp objects at different heights. However, the author notes that these examples are expensive development platforms rather than consumer-ready products.
The fact is that home robot functionality is severely hampered by form factor.
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Author
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Brian Heater has a conflict of interest on the topic of home robotics as he is reporting on Apple's electric car failure and also mentioning iRobot Roomba, Matic vacuum cleaner, Amazon Astro home robot and Hello Robotics in the same article.
Apple’s electric car loss could be home robotics gain
iRobot is a company that produces robots for various purposes including cleaning and surveillance. The author mentions iRobot's Roomba vacuum cleaner, which may indicate a bias towards the company.
Apple is actively researching AI-powered robots for potential products in the home robotics category
The company is considering making a mobile robot that could follow its owner around or a robotic device that could move displays
One job post at Apple is looking for a robotics engineer with experience programming autonomous robotics and systems and using AI algorithms to power autonomous systems
Accuracy
No Contradictions at Time
Of
Publication
Deception
(30%)
The article reports on Apple's research into AI-powered robots for the home. The author cites a Bloomberg report that states Apple is considering making a robot that could follow its owner around or a robotic device that could move displays. However, both projects are still in an early research phase and may ultimately be scrapped (or released). The article also mentions other AI-powered products Apple is working on such as adding AI to AirPods and building smart glasses. While the author does not provide any direct quotes from sources or disclose any sources themselves, they do mention that Bloomberg has reported on this topic before.
The iPhone maker is considering making a robot that could follow its owner around or a robotic device that could move displays, according to multiple anonymous sources familiar with the work.
Apple is actively researching AI-powered robots with the goal of making new potential products in the home robotics category
Both projects are still in an early research phase and may ultimately be scrapped (or released) in the future.
Fallacies
(70%)
The article contains several examples of informal fallacies. The author uses inflammatory rhetoric when they describe the potential products as 'new' and 'experimental market'. They also use an appeal to authority by mentioning that Apple is hiring for robotics roles with a job description asking candidates to help shape the AI that will power the next generation of Apple products. Additionally, there are several examples of dichotomous depictions in the article such as when it describes both projects as being 'early research phase' and then mentions they could be scrapped (or released) in the future.
The potential push into AI-powered home robots could be Apple’s new experimental market after it abandoned its electric vehicle project, according to the report.
Bias
(85%)
The article reports that Apple is researching AI-powered robots for the home. The author cites a Bloomberg report which states that Apple is considering making a robot that could follow its owner around or a robotic device that could move displays. However, both projects are still in an early research phase and may be scrapped (or released) in the future.
Apple is actively researching AI-powered robots with the goal of making new potential products in the home robotics category
Both projects are still in an early research phase and may be scrapped (or released) in the future.
The iPhone maker is considering making a robot that could follow its owner around or a robotic device that could move displays, according to multiple anonymous sources familiar with the work.
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Conflicts
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None Found At Time Of
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Author
Conflicts
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Interest (50%)
Kate Irwin has a conflict of interest on the topic of AI-powered robots as she is an author for PCMag which is owned by Ziff Davis Media. The article discusses how Apple may be developing AI robots for your home and it mentions that Matt Costello from Bloomberg reported on this topic.
Kate Irwin writes 'Matt Costello, a senior reporter at Bloomberg, first broke the news of Apple's robotics project in February 2019.'
The article discusses how AI-powered robots may be developed by Apple and it mentions that Matt Costello from Bloomberg reported on this topic.
Apple is exploring personal home robots after ditching its electric vehicle project.
Engineers at Apple have been looking into a robot that can follow users around their homes and a tabletop device that uses robotics to adjust a display screen.
Accuracy
Apple is exploring personal robotics as a new source of revenue after abandoning plans to develop an electric vehicle.
There have been precisely one success story in the robotics industry, which was the Roomba introduced 22 years ago by iRobot. Despite its efforts to strike gold again, it has fared best when focusing on its core functionality as a vacuum cleaner.
Deception
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None Found At Time Of
Publication
Fallacies
(70%)
The article contains an appeal to authority fallacy by citing a report from Bloomberg as the source of information about Apple's exploration of personal home robots. The author also uses inflammatory rhetoric when describing Amazon's Astro robot as being essentially a smart display on wheels that can answer Alexa commands, which is not entirely accurate.
Apple CEO Tim Cook (2nd R) greets customers as he arrives for the release of the Vision Pro headset at the Apple Store in New York City on February 2, 2024. Angela Weiss | AFP | Getty Images
Engineers at Apple have been looking into a robot that can follow users around their homes and a tabletop device that uses robotics to adjust a display screen.
