Austin-based human robot maker Apptronik announced Tuesday a new pilot partnership with Jabil’s U.S. supply chain/manufacturing stalwarts. The transaction arrives in two weeks Apptronik announces $350 million Series A Financing aims to expand its production Apollo robot.
Jabil Deal is the second major pilot announced by Apptronik. Follow the parade Partnerships in 2024 This allowed Apollo to work on the Mercedes-Benz manufacturing floor. Although the company told TechCrunch’s partnership with the automaker is in progress, it has not yet surpassed the pilot stage.
In addition to running tests of humanoid robots on the ground of their factory, the new deal also found that Florida-based Jabil and Apptronik became manufacturing partners. Once it is determined that Apollo is commercially viable, Jabir will start producing robots in his own factory. This means that if everything goes according to plan, the human robot will eventually be put into work.
Given the human industry’s concern for manufacturing, this kind of deal seems inevitable. However, the prospect of humanoid creatures remains a way to apptronik. The robot’s startup recently told TechCrunch that it targets commercial units starting to manufacture in 2026.
Currently, the Jabil deal will find a series of “simple, repetitive internal academic and manufacturing tasks” of Apollo systems that are not disclosed, including things like classification and transporting parts. Real-world verification is a critical step towards expanding robots toward building robots. The better Apollo performs on the floor of the Jabir factory, the closer it is to a production line that ultimately includes Apollo itself.
Apptronik is one of many companies that build humanoid robots for industrial applications, including Agility, Boston Dynamics, Graphics, and Tesla. Of these, only Agility announced that its robots have been deployed outside the initial pilot phase.
Competition may be fierce for the freshman category, but Apptronik’s competition is in its favor. In addition to hundreds of millions of dollars in funding, the University of Texas spin-offs also have decades of human sterol experience, including NASA’s Valkyrie robot. Last DecemberApptronik announced a partnership with Google DeepMind to develop the AI of its humanoid system.
