To open the WWDC keynote, Tim Cook invited a robotics startup called Anki to the stage. The company showed off what it called a “video game in the real world” for iOS.
The first product out of Anki is called Anki Drive. It’s a collection of AI-controlled race cars that learn and adapt as they drive around a track. The most interesting part about all of this is that the cars are not only controlled by iOS devices, but the brains of the cars are also housed in the iOS app.
Anki Drive is only the first of many products that the the folks at Anki want to make for iOS devices. They want to bring artificial intelligence, robotics and more to iOS users around the world.
At the end of the presentation, the Anki folks said that Anki Drive will be sold exclusively at Apple Stores later this year for around $200. It’s unknown if Apple is funding the development of Anki, but it’s a cool enough concept. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Apple getting into artificial intelligence development for Siri and other services.