"While the industry debates the merits of humanoid vs. non-humanoid designs," Kuo writes. "supply chain checks indicate Apple cares more about how users build perception with robots than their physical appearance".
In a broad sense, the term "anthropomorphic" can be applied to robotic systems that go beyond what we would normally classify as humanoid. This includes systems that are influenced by human characteristics but are not an exact replica of a humanoid with two arms, two legs, and a face.
The analyst notes that the company is in the initial stages of research. Kuo describes this work as an "early proof of concept" and compares it to the termination of the Apple Car project at the same stage. Given the "current progress and standard development cycles," Kuo predicts that mass production of Apple robots could begin in 2028, at best.