Apple has long-range plans for a full line of robots

Apple has long-range plans for a full line of robots, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports in his latest “Power On” newsletter.

Apple is still in the early stages of figuring out the best way to use robotics. Gurman says the test case will be a tabletop device codenamed J595 that brings together a large, iPad-like display with cameras and a base that features a robotic actuator. He says thathat product likely will arrive around 2026 or 2027, followed by mobile robots and possibly even humanoid models in the next decade.

Gurman says that, with robotics, Apple believes it can solve a series of problems:

• Your device is only useful if you can reach it. There are many occasions when you might like to use your computer but it isn’t nearby — or your hands are otherwise occupied. Maybe you left a device in your home office, but now you’re in the kitchen or living room and need it. 
• You may want to take photos of things or launch a videoconferencing session, but you’re not holding a device or sitting directly in front of it. 
• You might want to operate or check something in your home while being out of the house. 

“Attaching a robotic limb to the iPad, for instance, will potentially make the device more useful for videoconferencing or browsing the web for recipes,” Gurman writes. “If you’re busy in the kitchen, it can swivel the screen around to face you. Someday, an Apple robot could go further. Apple has envisioned machines that can do household chores — like loading up a laundry machine or scrubbing down dirty plates — but that’s still so far in the future that the ideas don’t go beyond sketches on a whiteboard.”

This info from Gurman is from the free edition of “Power On”. If you like it, consider subscribing to Bloomberg.com—you’ll receive the newsletter earlier and get exclusive access to a Q&A section.