Coming in 2027: Apple’s $1,000 home robot for FaceTime and switching on lights
Coming in 2027: Apple’s $1,000 home robot for FaceTime and switching on lights
Apple’s new CEO, John Ternus, is apparently pushing the tech company’s development of household robots—and the first to debut may be a home robot designed to autonomously roam around while supporting FaceTime calls and switching lights on whenever a person enters the room.
苹果公司新任首席执行官约翰·特努斯（John Ternus）显然正在推动该公司家用机器人的研发。首款亮相的产品可能是一款家用机器人，它被设计用于在室内自动巡航，同时支持 FaceTime 通话，并在有人进入房间时自动开关灯。
People who worked on Apple’s robotic projects told The Information that the AI-driven home robot, code-named J595, could be named HomeView Ultra in line with Apple’s new HomeView stationary smart display. The company is reportedly aiming to launch the robotic product with a possible price tag of $1,000 or more by 2027, although development delays may push that back to 2028.
曾参与苹果机器人项目的相关人士向《The Information》透露，这款人工智能驱动的家用机器人代号为 J595，可能会被命名为“HomeView Ultra”，以与苹果新款 HomeView 固定式智能显示器保持一致。据报道，该公司计划在 2027 年推出这款机器人产品，定价可能在 1000 美元或以上，尽管开发延误可能会将其推迟到 2028 年。
The earliest prototypes of the home robot first came out in 2018 and received approval from former Apple CEO Tim Cook to continue the project. The Information describes Apple’s engineers as trying to give the robot more capabilities beyond being a “fancy way to make FaceTime calls” in order to justify a high price tag, even as the team has spent years refining the software and incorporating more AI technologies.
该家用机器人的最早原型于 2018 年问世，并获得了苹果前首席执行官蒂姆·库克（Tim Cook）的批准以继续该项目。《The Information》描述称，苹果的工程师们正试图赋予该机器人除“进行 FaceTime 通话的高级方式”之外的更多功能，以证明其高昂价格的合理性，尽管该团队已经花费数年时间来完善软件并整合更多人工智能技术。
However, the robot’s few reported features seem underwhelming so far when compared with existing smart home devices and systems, or even a run-of-the-mill robot vacuum with a clearer use case for households. Is there a market for a smart home device costing more than $1,000 that moves around while hosting FaceTime calls, automatically handling room lights, and occasionally ordering the family cat to get off the dining table?
然而，与现有的智能家居设备和系统，甚至是用途更明确的普通扫地机器人相比，目前报道的该机器人功能似乎并不令人印象深刻。对于一款售价超过 1000 美元、能够四处走动、主持 FaceTime 通话、自动处理室内灯光，偶尔还能命令家里的猫从餐桌上跳下来的智能家居设备，市场上真的有需求吗？
One of the Information’s sources also described Apple as having a very small team of about 10 “true roboticists,” with many members of the initial engineering team having departed over the years. The software side boasts a significantly larger team of approximately 300 people. Still, Ternus has been backing this home robot as well as a separate Apple project focused on developing robots for household tasks like folding clothes, according to The Information.
《The Information》的一位消息人士还称，苹果仅拥有一个由约 10 名“真正机器人专家”组成的小型团队，而最初工程团队的许多成员多年来已经离职。相比之下，软件部门拥有约 300 人的庞大团队。据《The Information》报道，特努斯仍在支持这款家用机器人，以及另一个专注于开发折叠衣服等家务机器人的独立苹果项目。
The latter would presumably require robotic arms and manipulators, though it’s unclear if that means Apple has ambitions to develop a general-purpose humanoid robot for household use like robotics startups 1X and Figure AI. From a technical and safety standpoint, Apple’s initial focus on a limited-purpose home robot still makes much more sense right now than any attempt to develop a general-purpose autonomous robot that could pose greater risks when operating near humans.
后者大概需要机械臂和操纵器，但目前尚不清楚这是否意味着苹果有志于像机器人初创公司 1X 和 Figure AI 那样，开发用于家庭用途的通用人形机器人。从技术和安全角度来看，苹果目前专注于有限用途的家用机器人，比任何试图开发在人类附近操作时可能带来更大风险的通用自主机器人要合理得多。
The question is whether Apple can find enough customers willing to pay whatever it charges for a limited-purpose home robot.
问题在于，苹果能否找到足够的客户，愿意为一款有限用途的家用机器人支付其设定的任何价格。