Industrial & SMB robotPilot only
Apptronik Apollo
The Google-powered humanoid betting on partnerships over spectacle.
We haven't tested this machine hands-on, so this profile carries no rating — every fact below traces to the sources at the end, and the judgments are clearly ours. Full methodology on the Robot Tracker.
At a glance
- Status
- Pilot onlyWorking in partner facilities — you can't buy one
- Can you buy it?
- No
- Price
- Not for sale
- Form factor
- Bipedal humanoid (legs + wheeled variants)
- AI brain
- Google DeepMind Gemini Robotics (partner)
- Maker
- Apptronik (US)
- Backing
- ~$5bn valuation ($935M+ Series A incl. Google, Mercedes-Benz, Feb 2026)
Austin-based Apptronik — born from UT's Human Centered Robotics Lab and NASA's Valkyrie program — is running the partnership playbook: rather than building everything in-house, Apollo's brain comes from Google DeepMind's Gemini Robotics models, its pilots run inside Mercedes-Benz, GXO, and Jabil facilities, and its cap table (over $935M raised at a ~$5bn valuation) includes Google, Mercedes-Benz, and John Deere — investors who are also customers and suppliers of know-how.
Apollo units currently work in designated areas of partner factories and warehouses, and the company has said its long-term aims include assisted care and home use. A new robot was slated to debut in 2026. Like Figure, there's nothing to buy — Apptronik's differentiation is who it's building with, and the bet that a DeepMind-grade brain plus automotive-grade partners beats going it alone.
What's real
- • The strongest AI partnership in the field: Apollo runs on Google DeepMind's Gemini Robotics models, co-developed with real deployment data
- • Pilots inside Mercedes-Benz, GXO, and Jabil facilities — named partners with skin in the game as investors
- • Deep robotics pedigree (NASA Valkyrie lineage) and nearly $1bn raised
Know before you watch (or buy)
- • Pilot-stage only: robots work in designated areas of partner sites; nothing is for sale
- • Home and care ambitions are long-term statements, not products
- • Depends on a partner (Google) for its core intelligence — a strength today, a dependency tomorrow
The evidence
Apollo units working in designated areas at Mercedes-Benz, GXO, and Jabil facilities; a new robot was due to debut in 2026; long-term aim includes assisted care and home use.
Sources: CNBC
Bottom line
The humanoid most likely to benefit from frontier-lab AI progress, with credible industrial partners — but in evidence terms it's a pilot program, a notch behind the companies with delivered units. Watch the 2026 robot debut and whether pilots convert to volume orders.
FAQ
What AI does Apptronik's Apollo use?
Apollo is powered by Google DeepMind's Gemini Robotics models under a strategic partnership — Apptronik supplies the hardware and real-world deployment data, DeepMind the foundation models. Google is also an investor.