Big tech companies are coming secret projects to develop robots. Amazon.com Inc. has been working on a robot version of its Echo voice-activated speaker for a while now and this year began throwing More money and people at the effort. Alphabet Inc. is also working on robots, and smartphone maker Huawei Technologies Inc. is building a model for the Chinese market that will teach kids to speak English.

"Robots are the next big thing," said Gene Munster, co-founder of Loup Ventures, who expects the US market for home robots to quadruple to more than $4 billion by 2025. "You know it will be a big deal because the companies With the biggest balance sheets are entering the game."

Many companies have attempted to move domestic robots before. Sony Corp. and LG Electronics Inc. have shown interest in the category.

Amazon’s Project Vesta is overseen by Gregg Zehr, a veteran executive and a key leader at the company’s Lab126 hardware division. Amazon has moved people from other projects to the Vesta effort and canceled or pushed back other initiatives, they said.

Alphabet’s X division is working on several robotics projects and underlying technology that could, theoretically, make its way to a Jetsons-style home robot.

Huawei’s home robot’s main purpose is to teach kids English and do live Chinese-to-English translations. If Huawei brings the robot to market, it will be specific to China and is unlikely to be released in the U.S. and elsewhere, this person said. Huawei didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Industry experts say Apple probably isn’t currently working on a domestic bot, preferring to focus on commercial machines.

(Source: JJGLE.COM)