Apollo (Apptronik)
General-purpose humanoid robotic platform developed by Apptronik.
For the founder and chief executive of Apptronik, see Jeff Cardenas.
Apollo is a general-purpose humanoid robotic platform developed by Apptronik, Inc., an Austin, Texas robotics company founded in 2016 as a spinoff from the University of Texas at Austin Human Centered Robotics Lab. Apollo was announced in 2023 and has been placed in commercial pilot deployment at Mercedes-Benz manufacturing operations. The platform is engineered for industrial handling tasks, with a design philosophy emphasizing safety in shared human-robot workspaces and modular payload adaptability across task types.
Development history
Apptronik was founded in 2016 by researchers associated with the University of Texas at Austin Human Centered Robotics Lab. The company's early work focused on force-controlled actuators and the underlying components required for compliant humanoid manipulation. This actuator technology, developed over the first years of the company's existence, became the technical foundation on which Apollo was later built.
Apollo was announced in 2023 as Apptronik's flagship general-purpose humanoid platform. The design was informed by the company's earlier work on Astra, a torso-only manipulation research platform, and by design contracts including a NASA collaboration on humanoid form factors. Apollo's engineering emphasizes force-controlled actuation across the body, which enables the platform to operate safely in shared workspaces with human operators, an operational requirement of the industrial pilot deployments it targets.
Commercial pilot deployment of Apollo began at Mercedes-Benz in 2024, marking one of the earliest large-scale enterprise humanoid pilots outside Tesla and Figure. Subsequent partnerships and pilot deployments have been announced in the logistics category.
Specifications
- Height: approximately 173 cm (5 ft 8 in)
- Mass: approximately 73 kg (160 lb)
- Payload: approximately 25 kg (55 lb) in the manipulation configuration
- Battery: swappable, approximately 4 hours of continuous operation per battery pack
- Actuation: Apptronik-developed force-controlled electric actuators throughout
- Sensor payload: multi-camera vision, force/torque at joints, tactile at hands
- Safety architecture: designed for shared human-robot workspaces with force-limited joint response
Use case
Apollo is positioned by Apptronik for industrial handling tasks with a specific emphasis on precision manipulation in shared workspaces. This position distinguishes Apollo from other industrial humanoid platforms in two ways. First, the force-controlled actuator architecture supports operation in workcells shared with human staff without the safety cages typically required for industrial robotic arms. Second, the platform's design emphasizes modularity of the payload and end-effector configuration, allowing a single Apollo unit to be adapted across task types rather than fixed to a single manufacturing operation.
These characteristics have shaped the customer profile Apptronik has attracted to date: automotive manufacturers with mixed-operation workcells and logistics customers with variable throughput. Both customer types benefit from operational flexibility and shared workspace safety in ways that would not be delivered by a more purpose-built industrial platform.
Deployment status
Apollo units are deployed at Mercedes-Benz manufacturing facilities under a commercial pilot arrangement announced in 2024. The Mercedes-Benz deployment is one of the earliest public commercial humanoid pilots at a European automotive manufacturer and has served as a reference deployment for subsequent enterprise conversations. Additional pilot deployments in logistics have been announced through 2025 and 2026.
Apptronik has not published unit production or shipment volume figures for Apollo. Industry estimates suggest cumulative shipments through mid-2026 are in the low hundreds of units.
Cost per unit
Apptronik has not published unit pricing for Apollo. The platform is sold through enterprise pilot and multi-year deployment arrangements that include hardware, software, deployment support, and updates in a single commercial structure, and unit pricing outside these bundled arrangements is not publicly available. Industry estimates for Apollo pilot arrangements suggest costs consistent with other enterprise-grade full-form humanoids in the 2026 market.
References
- Apptronik corporate communications on the Apollo launch, 2023.
- Coverage of Apollo pilot deployment at Mercedes-Benz, 2024 to 2026.
- University of Texas at Austin Human Centered Robotics Lab publications on the actuator technology underlying Apollo.
- NASA collaboration coverage relevant to Apollo's design development.