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You can feel the desperation spreading through the Apple HQ. There is no next iPhone somewhere on the horizon. Build a newer and better vaccum robot? The „iSuckit“? I don‘t know, Apple a $5k cleaning robot will be another niche market. And you won‘t beat boston dynamics or Nvidia, for sure.


 
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...Given the history of car companies other than the Big Three, it was doomed from the beginning.

Honestly I feel that anyone with real engineering experience in the auto-manufacturing industry - who wasn't being paid by Apple to think otherwise - already knew that the car project was dead in the water before it ever set sail. It was so unlikely that they could ever successfully conceive, design and manufacture a working and commercially viable automobile, that one can't help believe it was either always a PR exercise or that upper management have been hopelessly lost at sea since 2011.
 
I want a robot:

1. That can Clean
2. For Sex. - must have DeepFake capabilities.
3. Can Cook
4. Does not require a prenup
5. Comes with a Ball Gag
6. Must have a holder for iPad at face and tramp stamp position.

7. ALSO, when I say "Doggy". I don't want Siri to come back with Kentucky fried Chicken is 4 blocks to your west, here is the map, OR Doggy is not in your music play list, meaning, Siri actually works.
 
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Waiting for Apple’s attempt at these!

(Wheels are probably easier to start with!)
 
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The one I own is from Eufy. I've had it for many years, and it remains excellent. (Except for when it gets stuck or hides.) But observing it carefully, I can see that this is all it really does. Since it runs quietly at 4am, it really doesn't matter how it works, it just does.

Edit: A good indicator of no AI or map is if it leaves a room, vacuums another, and then goes back and vacuums the first some more.

I had two (older cheaper) Eufy as well which I found as just adequate. On the other hand the J9 is shockingly good. The suction/cleaning power is superior and it takes pictures of obstacles and goes around them. I also like the J9 emptying itself after every job. Really a very nice machine. I spend all sorts of nonsense money on silly things but put the J9 in the ‘most useful/delightful’ category like my iPad.
 
Honestly I feel that anyone with real engineering experience in the auto-manufacturing industry - who wasn't being paid by Apple to think otherwise - already knew that the car project was dead in the water before it ever set sail. It was so unlikely that they could ever successfully conceive, design and manufacture a working and commercially viable automobile, that one can't help believe it was either always a PR exercise or that upper management have been hopelessly lost at sea since 2011.
Preaching to the choir. I have no idea why Apple even considered it. Or why they spent $10 Billion before admitting defeat. As a shareholder, that could have gone to a special dividend, or stock buybacks, if they couldn't think of something better, like robotics, say. Or CarPlay integration with existing automakers' operating systems. Imagine being able to just say, "Siri, start my BMW, open all windows and skylight, start the engine, turn on the A/C, and plan a route to Popeye's." All from the comfort of your armchair!
 
It’s going to be another canceled project after they spend millions just watch
Possibly this is being look at in the wrong way. A lot of robotics is geared towards improved manufacturing processes, not advanced home automation products.

Remember this article where most people looked at the tile of the article not at what manner of technology Apple was buying?
This was what it really involved:
DarwinAI’s initial focus is to disrupt the electronics manufacturing industry by improving the efficiency of Printed Circuit Board Assembly (PCBA) production through their ground-breaking technology. PCBs, which are ubiquitous and embedded in everything from microwaves to cameras, are notoriously difficult to visually inspect due different board sizes and complicated geometries. What’s more, qualified workers are hard to find and retain.
Robotics could certainly be used in conjunction IMHO.
 
AI vacuums and robots… such Courage. I can’t wait
Where are people getting the vacuum idea from? The article does NOT say that Apple is working on a vacuum, but a huge percent of the comments are "Apple is building a vacuum. Ha Ha! Stupid Apple thinking they can build a better vacuum!"

Is there some other outlet that claims Apple has its eye on the robot vacuum market?
 
if this is true - Apple looking for its next big thing, after their “biggest thing in computing” was released only in January. Probably indicates Vision Pro has flopped.

No such article existed for years after the first iPhone was released.
 
after watching Robot and Frank, and reading about the aging populations of some of the major countries, I am thinking Care robots really should be a thing. Apple needs to start working on one right now. Then maybe by the time we badly need them they will be ready.

Yes. They first thing they could do is an iPhone usable by stroke victims or people with limited abilities. Perhaps a giant Apple watch that could be limited to just a few clear functions that always work the same way.
 
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It is because vacuums are the only home robots that are actually useful right now - anything else seems far on the horizon as far as feasibility.
It's certainly time for another advancement in home robots. Vacuum robots have been around for a quarter century.

Neither of the robots that ARE mentioned in the article excite me at all. At least not as described. Why do I want a screen following me around, when I have a screen in my pocket most of the time? Why do I want a screen on a table that looks around an mimics a head not?

What I think these two robots are is telepresence robots.

One model stays in one place. It could be a seat at a conference table, and the screen displays the persona of someone "dialing in" from a Vision headset. The person in the headset sees the other people who are at the table and the room itself. If there are multiple people dialing in from headsets, they would see spatial personas in place of the other robots.

The model that can roll around the room would be for people who need mobility. A manager could use it to inspect a production line. They could move along the line and look at whatever needed looking at. They could stop and talk to employees on the line, or to other telepresence robots (which they'd see as spatial personas of the person operating them). There's a lot more to this scenario, but it's just my imagination, and not based on any inside information at Apple.

The people who think Apple is developing a vacuum aren't using their imaginations at all.
 
Yet another pathetic attempt by Tim Cook to make it seem like he is all about innovation and making products to best help consumers, when in fact he's actually the opposite: an MBA degree-holding corporate suit who is practically only concerned with maximizing profits to please shareholders.
True, except he doesn't actually care about any shareholders. He only cares about his own stash. Scrooge McCook.
 
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