Reported on February 18 According to a report on the website of Bloomberg News on February 16, Apple and metaverse platform companies will compete in another emerging field: artificial intelligence (AI)-powered humanoid robots.
On the 14th, metaverse platform companies occupied a place in this emerging field. It has set up a new group within the hardware department of its Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality Lab dedicated to the development of humanoid robotics. We may see a "metaverse" brand robot one day, but its immediate goal is to create an underlying software platform that hardware manufacturers can leverage to enter this space.
Metaverse platform companies believe they have an advantage in the market. The company has developed sensors and computing technologies for mixed reality. Mixed reality blends augmented reality and virtual reality. The company also has an AI model called Llama. This model has become quite popular in the industry.
Metaverse platform companies believe that this gives them the best basic tools to build robot hardware. The company will begin recruiting engineers for the project and believes it will be able to begin helping other companies bring new humanoid robots to market in the coming years.
But in this space, metaverse platform companies are not alone. Apple has its own plans for robots, but it's likely to take a different approach. The iPhone maker prefers to be in control of all inputs, such as hardware, software, etc., and it is developing a machine that can do just that. It will be a humanoid robot that will highlight Apple's AI and tightly integrated technology.
Within Apple's machine learning division, there are several advanced AI research teams. These teams focus on developing robotics. The company also has a home hardware engineering team that is interested in this area. In the near future, Apple plans to launch a desktop device that connects a robotic arm to a display. This will be a high-end version of the smart home center that Apple expects to release this year. In terms of mobile robots, the company is also conducting exploratory research. The mobile robot is similar to Amazon's "Astro" robot.
Apple's humanoid robot will be a few years away, but it could eventually become a competitor to the "Optimus Prime" robot launched by Tesla Motors. According to Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors, the robot will be produced in limited quantities this year. He believes that the final price of the product could be $30,000.
Deep Thinking, a company owned by Google, has also been working on robotics. It wouldn't be surprising if Google developed its own software for this emerging category.
A key question for Apple is whether it can catch up with its rivals in the AI space. After all, if its phones and tablets aren't competitive in AI, how can it make robots? On the 14th, Bloomberg reported that the company's latest Siri function has suffered a dysfunction and may be postponed. If Apple does want to become a significant player in the robotics space, it will be under more pressure to regain its footing in the field of AI.
Still, Apple has spent a decade developing self-driving cars, which could pay off somewhat. The company canceled the project last year, but some lessons learned will come in handy. In addition, there seems to be a lot of people in the tech industry who believe that humanoid robots, rather than self-driving cars, will be the ultimate project in the field of AI. The difference between the two is that one walks on wheels through the city streets, while the other walks through the living room on his legs. The core technology is much the same.
For humanoid robots, the question is no longer if they will appear, but when. The answer is, sooner than people think.
A humanoid robot with two arms on display at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, USA, on January 7.