NASA, Apptronik Partner to Commercialize Humanoid Robots

Mobile robotics company Apptonik has partnered with NASA to commercialize its humanoid robot, Apollo. 

Designed as a general purpose robot, Apollo was intended to take on an assistive role in a range of industries including logistics, retail, hospitality and aerospace. A prototype has already been completed, with wider commercialization expected in 2023, making Apollo one of the first humanoids available to commercial markets. 

Under the latest deal, Apptronik has been made a commercial partner with NASA to launch the next generation of general-purpose robots, with Apollo only the first in an anticipated long line of humanoids. 

This is not the first time the two companies have collaborated. They first partnered in 2013 to develop NASA’s Valkyrie robot during the DARPA Robotics Challenge.

“Continued investment from NASA validates the work we are doing at Apptronik and the inflection point we have reached in robotics,” said Jeff Cardenas, Apptronik CEO and co-founder. “The robots we’ve all dreamed about are now here and ready to get out into the world…[they] will first become tools for us here on Earth, and will ultimately help us move beyond and explore the stars.”

The Austin-based company, founded in 2016, spun out of the Human Centered Robotics Lab at the University of Texas at Austin with the goal of building robots to work alongside humans. The company believes “it is not Man vs. Machine, but Man and Machine that will take humanity into the next stage of evolution.”