Apptronik launches robot training hub, unveils Apollo 2 humanoid robot

Alphabet Inc. Class A

Alphabet Inc. Class A

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By Akash Sriram

- Google-backed Apptronik unveiled a new robot training facility on Tuesday, betting that large-scale real-world data collection will accelerate the commercialization of humanoid robots.

The Austin-based startup said the facility, developed with Google GOOGL.O DeepMind, is designed to move robots from pilot projects to production deployments.

  • The nearly 90,000-square-foot facility, Robot Park, in Austin houses fleets of humanoid robots performing logistics, manufacturing and retail tasks to generate training data for AI models.

  • The company also introduced Apollo 2, its latest humanoid robot, available in both bipedal and wheeled configurations, which has operated for more than a year as the company's data collection platform.

  • Robot Park supplies data to Gemini Robotics, Google's robotics AI model, under Apptronik's research partnership with Google DeepMind.

  • "We have a factory that produces robots, we also have a factory that produces data," CEO Jeff Cardenas said, describing Robot Park as the engine for building production-grade AI models.

  • Cardenas said Apptronik has built "hundreds" of Apollo 2 robots but declined to disclose deployment numbers.

  • "We'll continue to pilot through this year, and then we'll start to see real production versions ... in 2027 and beyond," Cardenas said.

  • Apptronik raised $520 million in a funding round announced in February that valued the company at about $5 billion.