CompanionRater

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.

Apptronik Apollo humanoid robot, full body
Photo: Apptronik

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.

Apollo in pictures

Apollo humanoid robot working in a warehouse
Photo: Apptronik
Apollo humanoid robot walking past pallet racking
Photo: Apptronik

Images are the manufacturers' own press and product photography, shown here for identification and review, and credited to the rights holder.

Watch Apollo

Introducing the Apollo Humanoid Robot by ApptronikIntroducing the Apollo Humanoid Robot by Apptronik

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

What changed on Apollo's own pages

Nothing yet. We re-crawl the maker's own price and product pages and record anything that moves — a price, a ship date, a caveat appearing or disappearing. We've been watching since 2026-07-12and this maker hasn't changed those pages since.

We report what changed and when, with the page it changed on. We don't speculate about why.

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.

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