Recently, a humanoid robot startup called Apptronik in the United States announced that it had successfully completed a US$350 million Series A financing. This huge amount of money will be mainly used to expand the production scale of its artificial intelligence (AI) robots. The financing was led by B Capital and Capital Factory, and technology giant Google is also actively involved, showing the market's strong interest in the field of AI robots.
Apptronik was founded in 2016 and is headquartered in the Human-Based Robot Laboratory at the University of Texas at Austin. The company focuses on developing industrial AI humanoid robots called "Apollo" and has in-depth cooperation with well-known institutions such as NASA, Nvidia and Google DeepMind. These cooperation not only enhances the company's technical strength, but also lays a solid foundation for the marketing of its products.
At the press conference, Apptronik CEO Jeff Cardenas said that gaining support from investors was a big encouragement to the company's development. He pointed out that with the continuous advancement of robotics technology, robots combined with AI are becoming more and more versatile. The company is making every effort to bring these robots to the market with the goal of expanding from industrial to home life and bringing more convenience to people.
Last year, Apptronik demonstrated its robot's capabilities in sophisticated operations at the GTC2024 show, and plans to realize Apollo's digital twin environment through Nvidia's Omniverse technology in the future. In addition, Apptronik's cooperation with Google DeepMind will focus on developing AI technologies that can drive robots, further improving the intelligence level of robots.
Goldman Sachs' report predicts that the overall size of the humanoid robot market will reach US$38 billion by 2035. In this rapidly growing market, Apptronik's main competitor will be Tesla's "Optimus" (Optimus). The two companies will compete fiercely in technology research and development, market expansion and other aspects to jointly promote the development of the humanoid robot industry.
Key points:
Apptronik completed a $350 million financing and plans to expand the production of AI humanoid robots.
The company cooperates with NASA, Nvidia and Google DeepMind to be committed to the development of robotics technology.
The humanoid robot market is expected to reach $38 billion by 2035, and Apptronik will compete with Tesla.