Apple's Secret Robotics Team Gets New Leadership

[MacRumors]

Apple is removing another project from AI chief John Giannandrea, and he will no longer oversee Apple's secret robotics division, according to Bloomberg.

After Apple failed to deliver promised Apple Intelligence Siri features on time under Giannandrea's leadership, Apple asked Vision Pro chief Mike Rockwell to oversee the Siri team and future Siri development instead.

Now the robotics team will make a similar move, transitioning to the hardware division where robotics development will be overseen by Apple senior vice president John Ternus instead of Giannandrea. Giannandrea continues to head up Apple's AI and machine learning efforts, and changing the robotics team leadership will give his team more time to focus on new artificial intelligence features. Giannandrea has hundreds fewer engineers to manage, and the shift is a clear indication that Apple leadership does not feel that he can lead multiple teams.

Apple is making major management changes in order to further prioritize Apple Intelligence, as it needs to catch up with Google, OpenAI, Perplexity, and other AI companies that are leagues ahead in AI development.

Kevin Lynch, who oversaw the development of the Apple Watch and Apple's now-canceled car, is leading the robotics team. Apple has several robotics projects in the works, and a tabletop robot with an arm that can move around an iPad-style display could be the first device to come from the robot team. Apple is also planning for a more mobile robot that would be more like an iPad on wheels able to carry out simple tasks, place calls, and answer queries.

Ternus is a top Apple exec and he has worked on some of Apple's biggest products, overseeing the hardware engineering of the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and other devices. He already oversees another hardware engineering team working on robotics and smart home technologies, and Bloomberg suggests that Apple's move to merge the two robotics teams could indicate that Apple is ramping up robot development.

Article Link: Apple's Secret Robotics Team Gets New Leadership

 

[iMac The Knife]

Welp, I guess the secret is out! 🤣

 

[jz0309]

Giannandrea has hundreds fewer engineers to manage, and the shift is a clear indication that Apple leadership does not feel that he can lead multiple teams.

wonder what exit clause he has written in his contract?

 

[CalMin]

This time don't announce until it's ready to ship!

 

[coffeemilktea]

I can't help but think Giannandrea would have been booted out the door ages ago in the pre-Cook era. 😬

Meanwhile, looks like Ternus is collecting more departments like Pokémon. At this rate he'll have the whole company before the iPhone XX comes out!

 

[BB1970]

Seems like a waste of resources.
Apple getting into that Sony territory of coming up with a solution to a problem no one had. And before you quote Jobs about horses and cars etc, in what world do YOU need a robot that isn’t a gimmick?

 

[MajorFubar]

I think Apple were accidentally the architect of their own failure [regarding AI]. They were so concerned about not compromising user security that their AI was overtaken by rival developers who basically said f'k security look what our AI can do. And here's where we're at.

 

[Entilzha]

“Secret”

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

 

[Porco]

Apple is also planning for a more mobile robot that would be more like an iPad on wheels

Wheels? Uh-oh, you know that’s gonna be expensive then!

 

[The_Auryn]

in what world do YOU need a robot that isn’t a gimmick?

When you're lonely and don't have a girlfriend/boyfriend.

 

[Reason077]

One day, the robotics team will be lead by robots.

 

[NMBob]

Wheels? Uh-oh, you know that’s gonna be expensive then!

I wanna see it go up stairs.

 

[DBZmusicboy01]

Siri needs to be completely replaced at this point. It has not had any meaningful updates since the mid 2010’s. Google is like 10 years ahead at this point.

 

[blcamp]

Can those of us who DGAF about AI and robots just please have a non-glitchy iOS that doesn't have batteries for breakfast?

 

[red elma]

It is promising that Apple is implementing significant changes to address the issues.

 

[robbinia]

I wanna see it go up stairs.

That’s why the last sentence mentions Apple is ramping up robot development ! 😀

 

[diego.caraballo]

Why is Kevin Lynch, the guy that worked in one tool in Dreamweaver that allowed Flash to run in HTML as well as the infamous "Adobe Air" runtime, leading a Car division first and then the Robotics one?

 

[MysteriousStain]

How much are the wheels going to cost for that robot iPad?

 

[Plerf]

I’m starting to think they’re trying to humiliate this guy.

Next they’ll take his parking pass.

 

[KENESS]

Seems like a waste of resources.
Apple getting into that Sony territory of coming up with a solution to a problem no one had. And before you quote Jobs about horses and cars etc, in what world do YOU need a robot that isn’t a gimmick?

You're trying to preemptively nullify the Jobs quote, but with the very. exact. point. OF that quote...

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

I can't help but think Giannandrea would have been booted out the door ages ago in the pre-Cook era. 😬

You know this line of thinking is always pushed, that Steve Jobs would just start firing on mass if things didn’t go his way…
But there’s literally nothing in the archives to support this.
There was no point during his tenurebetween 1997 and 2011 where he let go of tons of people at once, or even where he fired anyone at senior management level.
Even during the MobileMe fiasco, as far as I know, no one actually got fired. He reassigned leadership during a very tense meeting, but as far as I know, no one got fired.
In fact, the only moment described where people were truly fearful of losing their jobs, was when he first came back in the company was literally days away from bankruptcy and there was pretty much no choice but to let some people go. And even then, it was more of just a fear of being fired, not actually that many people were.
Also, especially since we’re talking about someone who Apple took from Google, he probably has a contract saying that he *can’t* just be “fired”.

 

[victorvictoria]

"he will no longer oversee Apple's secret robotics division…"
Not secret any more, is it? 🤣 🤣 🤣

 

[victorvictoria]

Hope he can see the writing on the wall. Two demotions in a row, time to polish up the résumé again.

 

[CausticSoda]

I picture a room in the basement with a sign "store cupboard". Inside is a room with a few posters of robots from the Sixties and a few sci-fi toys. A few guys are sitting around a table. One is shouting at a lego device on wheels, "I said make me coffee" at a lifeless lump of plastic. Giannandrea's saying, "Come on guys, let's do this thing".

 

[Gasu E.]

Apple is developing "secret robots"?