Apple wants to build a home robot

"Hey Siri, load the dishwasher"

Last month, we covered how Apple’s much-rumoured electric car project had been cancelled. Well, Apple has apparently found a new “next big thing” to replace the car with, and we guarantee it’s nothing like what you’re expecting.

If a new report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman is to be believed, Apple has settled on a range of smart home robots that will act as helpers around your home. It’s a stark departure from Apple’s usual range of products – but then again, so was the Apple car.

Gurman’s article says that Apple has a few different ideas in play, and that the company is actively researching and developing them all. The first is a home-assistant robot that would follow you around the home, ready to perform tasks for you. It would be able to navigate around obstacles thanks to an onboard algorithm, and might work in a somewhat similar way to Amazon’s Astro robot.