Apptronik Apollo
Apollo is a commercial humanoid robot from Austin-based Apptronik, built for warehouse and manufacturing work like moving totes, case picking and machine tending. It's offered mainly through pilots and a robot-as-a-service model at roughly $25 per operating hour, with a long-term unit-cost target under $50,000 at scale. It's already running pilots with Mercedes-Benz and GXO.
What is the Apptronik Apollo?
Apptronik Apollo doesn't get the same headlines as Tesla's Optimus, but in the world of humanoids that actually show up to work, it's one of the names that matters. Apollo is a roughly 5-foot-8 electric humanoid designed from the start for real logistics and light-manufacturing tasks - not viral dance clips.
The company behind it, Apptronik, spun out of the Human Centered Robotics Lab at UT Austin and has been building actuators and robots for over a decade. What makes Apollo interesting is its focus on force control and safety, so it can work near people and cope with the small surprises of a real warehouse.
In this guide we'll cover what Apollo does, its verified specs, the robot-as-a-service pricing model, the Mercedes-Benz and GXO pilots, and whether it's something your operation could realistically use in 2026.
What is the Apptronik Apollo humanoid robot?
Apollo is a general-purpose industrial humanoid built by Apptronik. It stands about 5'8" (173 cm) and weighs roughly 160 lb (73 kg), with a payload of around 25 kg. Hot-swappable battery packs give it about a four-hour runtime, so a fresh pack keeps it working across shifts.
Apollo's defining engineering choice is force control rather than rigid position control. In plain terms, it 'feels' contact and adapts, instead of blindly following a fixed path - that makes it safer around humans and more robust when the real world doesn't match the plan. Apptronik markets it as the first commercial humanoid designed jointly for friendly interaction, mass manufacturability, high payload and safety.
On the compute side, Apollo runs on NVIDIA Jetson modules (Orin-class) delivering 275+ TOPS, and taps NVIDIA's Project GR00T foundation models to learn tasks from human demonstration and text or video commands.
How much does the Apptronik Apollo cost?
There is no fixed retail sticker for Apollo. Apptronik sells access mainly through pilots and a robot-as-a-service (RaaS) arrangement priced at approximately $25 per robot-operating-hour - you pay for the work done rather than buying hardware outright.
The CEO has publicly targeted a unit cost under $50,000 at scale, with high-volume commercial availability discussed for around 2027. So while headline hardware pricing stays quote-only for now, the direction of travel is clear: get the per-hour cost competitive with human labor, then drive unit cost down as volume climbs.
Where is Apollo deployed, and is it available?
Apollo is available through Apptronik's pilot program, not as an off-the-shelf purchase. The most notable deployments are with Mercedes-Benz - at the Digital Factory Campus in Berlin-Marienfelde and the Kecskemet plant in Hungary - handling intra-logistics like delivering assembly kits and moving totes between workstations.
GXO Logistics began a multi-phase R&D program with Apptronik that moved from lab testing toward a U.S. distribution center, and Jabil has been a manufacturing pilot partner too. These are genuine commercial pilots rather than pure lab demos, which puts Apollo among the more credible humanoids in actual industrial settings.
How does Apollo work and how autonomous is it?
Apollo is designed for supervised autonomy in structured environments. Using GR00T-based foundation models, it learns repetitive material-handling tasks - tote moves, case picking, palletizing, machine tending - and executes them with increasing independence as it's trained on more demonstrations.
That said, current-generation humanoids across the industry still rely on human oversight, careful task setup and remote monitoring, and Apollo is no exception. It's best thought of as a flexible, trainable worker for well-defined tasks, not a drop-in replacement that figures out arbitrary jobs on its own.
Apptronik Apollo vs Agility Digit and Figure
Apollo's closest competitor on the warehouse floor is Agility Robotics' Digit, which is already doing paid tote-handling work at GXO and reports commercial deployments across multiple facilities. Digit has a slightly different, more purpose-built lower body; Apollo leans on a more human-like, general design and its force-control approach.
Against Figure (BMW pilots) and Tesla Optimus, Apollo's calling card is heavyweight industrial backing: it raised $520 million in March 2026 at a $5.5 billion valuation, with Google and Mercedes-Benz among the lead backers. That war chest and its automaker relationships make it one of the better-funded, better-connected humanoid programs out there.
Is the Apptronik Apollo worth it and who is it for?
Apollo is squarely an enterprise product. If you run a warehouse or factory with repetitive, well-defined material-handling tasks and you're comfortable with a pilot-and-RaaS model, Apollo is one of the more mature options to evaluate today.
If you're a consumer or small business, it's not for you - there's no retail unit and no consumer pricing. For the right industrial customer, though, the combination of real deployments, strong funding and automaker partnerships makes Apollo a serious contender rather than a science project.
Who the Apptronik Apollo is — and isn't — for
+Where it shines
- US-built, with local support and supply chain.
- Open developer access (SDK/API) — good for builders and labs.
- Stated real-world payload (25 kg).
- Specs are well-sourced — high data confidence.
!Watch-outs
- Sold to businesses only — not to private buyers.
How the Apptronik Apollo stacks up
Side by side with similar robots — the one you're reading about is highlighted.
| This robot Apptronik Apptronik Apollo |  Weave Robotics Weave Isaac |  1X Technologies 1X NEO |  Agility Robotics Agility Robotics Digit | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price (US) | $50,000 – $80,000 | $7,999 – $9,999 | ~$20,000 | ~$250,000 |
| Availability | Pilot programs | On the market | Reservations open | Lease / RaaS |
| Height | 1.73 m | Unknown | ~1.68 m | 1.75 m |
| Payload | 25 kg | Unknown | Carry 25 kg | 16 kg |
| DoF | ~71 | Isaac | Hands | 16 |
| Buyer | Enterprise | Individuals | Individuals | Enterprise |
| Made in | US | US | US | US |
What the Apptronik Apollo costs — and how to get one
No fixed retail price; CEO targets <$50k/unit at scale, ~$80k/yr high-volume from 2027.
Open - enterprise/pilot agreements via sales
Leasing / RaaS: unknown
Every spec, grouped & sourced
Tap a group to expand. Values are labelled official vs third-party; unknowns are omitted, not guessed.
Body & movement▾
Power & endurance▾
Hands & senses▾
Brains & control▾
Claims vs evidence
NVIDIA GR00T + Google DeepMind partnership; learning from demonstration; largely roadmap
Where it's working
Mercedes-Benz pilot (Mar 2024); GXO Logistics PoC; partners Jabil, NVIDIA, Google DeepMind
Intended use cases: Warehouse/manufacturing logistics: trailer unloading, case picking, palletization, machine tending
Should you consider the Apptronik Apollo?
Apollo is one of the most credible working humanoids in 2026 - real automaker pilots, deep funding and a sensible force-control design aimed at genuine warehouse tasks. It's enterprise-only and still needs supervision, but for logistics operators it's worth a serious look. Just don't expect a retail price tag anytime soon.
Score reflects stated criteria (availability, data confidence, US relevance) — not hands-on testing or user ratings. We're an independent review & comparison site; we don't sell robots. *Financing figure is illustrative.
How we know this
Data confidence 78/100 · last verified 2026-06-23. Specs are labelled official vs third-party and dated; unknowns are omitted, not guessed.
Apptronik Apollo — your questions, answered in full
How much does the Apptronik Apollo cost?+
There's no fixed retail price. Apollo is offered mainly via pilots and a robot-as-a-service model at roughly $25 per operating hour. Apptronik targets a unit cost under $50,000 at scale, with higher-volume availability discussed around 2027.
What can the Apptronik Apollo robot do?+
It handles warehouse and light-manufacturing tasks: moving totes, case picking, palletization and machine tending. It uses force control to work safely near people and adapt to unexpected contact.
What are Apollo's specifications?+
About 5'8" (173 cm) tall, ~160 lb (73 kg), ~25 kg payload, hot-swappable batteries giving roughly 4 hours of runtime, and NVIDIA Jetson (Orin-class) compute delivering 275+ TOPS.
Is the Apptronik Apollo available to buy?+
Not as an off-the-shelf purchase. It's available through Apptronik's pilot program and RaaS. Enterprise customers engage directly with Apptronik rather than buying a unit retail.
Where is Apollo being used?+
In pilots with Mercedes-Benz (Berlin-Marienfelde and Kecskemet, Hungary) for intra-logistics, plus programs with GXO Logistics and Jabil. These are real commercial pilots, not just lab demos.
Apptronik Apollo vs Agility Digit - which is ahead?+
Digit has more publicly reported paid warehouse work today (100,000+ totes at GXO). Apollo counters with heavy funding and automaker partnerships. Both are legitimate warehouse-focused humanoids; the gap is narrow.
Who makes the Apollo humanoid robot?+
Apptronik, an Austin, Texas company spun out of the Human Centered Robotics Lab at UT Austin. It raised $520M at a $5.5B valuation in March 2026, backed by Google and Mercedes-Benz.
Is Apollo fully autonomous?+
No - like all current humanoids it operates with supervised autonomy in structured settings, learning tasks from demonstrations and running with human oversight and monitoring.
Peer-reviewed research on the Apptronik Apollo
Published academic work — peer-reviewed papers and preprints — involving this robot or its maker's systems, indexed in scholarly databases (OpenAlex, arXiv). Not blog posts or press write-ups.
- Control and evaluation of a humanoid robot with rolling contact joints on its lower bodyBang, González, Ahn, et al. · 2023 · Frontiers in Robotics and AI · cited by 8 · DOI 10.3389/frobt.2023.1164660
Academic references are factual citations from open scholarly indexes; listing is not endorsement.