On Tuesday, Apptronik, a company specializing in humanoid robots based in Austin, unveiled a new pilot partnership with Jabil, a prominent American supply chain and manufacturing firm. This announcement comes just two weeks after Apptronik secured a $350 million Series A funding round aimed at boosting production of its Apollo robot.
This collaboration with Jabil marks the second significant pilot initiative for Apptronik, following an earlier partnership established in March 2024, where Apollo was deployed at the Mercedes-Benz manufacturing site. Although Apptronik has confirmed to TechCrunch that its alliance with the automaker persists, it remains in the pilot phase without progressing further.
As part of this recent agreement, Jabil and Apptronik are set to collaborate on manufacturing. Once the Apollo robot is confirmed to be commercially viable, Jabil will take charge of its production in its facilities, potentially leading to the groundbreaking scenario where the humanoid robot might contribute to its own assembly.
Given the manufacturing-centric approach prevalent in the humanoid robotics sector, partnerships like this seem almost inevitable. However, the journey for Apptronik to achieve humanoid robots constructing humanoids is still in the future, with the company aiming to start manufacturing commercial units by 2026.
For now, the agreement with Jabil will see an undisclosed number of Apollo robots engaged in a variety of straightforward, repetitive tasks related to intralogistics and manufacturing, such as sorting and transporting components. This practical testing is vital to validate the robot’s capabilities for industrial settings. The more effectively Apollo operates within Jabil’s factory, the closer it gets to being integrated into a production line that could eventually include its own manufacturing.
Apptronik is among several companies developing humanoid robots for industrial use, alongside Agility, Boston Dynamics, Figure, and Tesla. Out of these competitors, only Agility has reported deployments beyond the initial pilot phase.
While the field is competitive, Apptronik benefits from numerous advantages, including substantial funding amounting to hundreds of millions, and a decade of expertise in humanoid robotics, notably with NASA’s Valkyrie robot. In December of last year, Apptronik revealed a partnership with Google DeepMind focused on advancing AI capabilities for its humanoid platforms.
Compiled by Techarena.au.
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