Apptronik, the Austin-based manufacturer of humanoid robots, announced on Tuesday a new pilot partnership with Jabil, a stubborn American supply chain/manufacturing staunch. The deal arrived two weeks after Apptronik announced a $350 million Series A finance round aimed at expanding production of the Apollo Robot.
The Jabil contract is the second major pilot announced by Apptronik. This follows the partnership in March 2024, with Apollo working on the manufacturing floor of Mercedes-Benz. The company tells TechCrunch that a partnership with the automaker is ongoing, but has not graduated past the pilot stage.
In addition to testing the humanoid robot execution on factory floors, the new deal also found that Florida-based Jabil and Aptronik are manufacturing partners. Once Apollo is determined to be commercially viable, Jabil begins production of the robot in its own factory. This means that once everything goes according to the plan, the humanoid robot will ultimately make the construction itself work.
Given the humanoid industry's focus on manufacturing, such a transaction seems like a necessity. However, the outlook for humanoids to build humanoids remains a path for Apptronik. The Robotics startup recently told TechCrunch that it has started manufacturing commercial units targeted for 2026.
For the time being, Jabil's trade will find private numbers of Apollo systems that perform a range of “simple and repetitive introgis and manufacturing tasks” such as part sorting and transporting. Real-world verification is an important step in expanding manufacturing robots. The more Apollo works on the floor of Jabil Factory, the closer you will ultimately be to slotting into a production line that includes Apollo itself.
Apptronik is one of many companies building humanoid robots for industrial applications, including Agility, Boston Dynamics, Figure, and Tesla. Of these, only agility has announced that the robot is deployed beyond the initial pilot phase.
While the competition may be tough in the early categories, Apptronik has many advantages. The University of Texas spinoff has ten years of experience with humanoids, including NASA's Valkyrie Robot, in addition to raising hundreds of millions of funds. Last December, Apptronik announced a partnership with Google DeepMind, developing AI for Humanoid Systems.