AI Humanoid Robots Get $350M Boost for Expansion

AI-powered humanoid robots th

at co-exist with humans to help our workloads may seem like the plot of a sci-fi movie, but companies have been working on them for years. Case in point: Apptronik, a robotics lab founded in early 2016, has been working on a 5-foot 8-inch, 160-pound, general-purpose humanoid robot named Apollo. The company’s latest funding will accelerate the robot’s deployment.   

On Wednesday, Austin-based Apptronik announced the closing of a $350 million Series A funding round that will be used to fuel Apollo’s deployment, scale company operations, grow its team, and accelerate innovation, according to a company press release. The investment was co-led by B Capital and Capital Factory with participation from DeepMind, Google’s AI lab. 

“With Apptronik, we see a world in which humanoid robots play a vital role in addressing societal challenges — from assisting with disaster relief and elder

care to supporting space exploration and medical advancements,” said Howard Morgan, chair and general partner of B Capital.

With the investment, Apptronik plans to explore different form factors for Apollo, further develop its full-stack robot platform, and expand the robot’s capabilities so that it can address a wide range of applications across different industries such as logistics, manufacturing, eldercare, and healthcare. 

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Source : https://www.zdnet.com/article/ai-humanoid-robots-step-closer-thanks-to-new-350-million-investment/#google_vignette