The next step of the humanist robots: the production of its own

Company AppronikAustin’s manufacturer of human robots in Austin announced on Tuesday that it had begun a new test with the Jabil Supply and Production Company. The contract only two weeks after the $ 5 million Series A investment announcement Appronik To expand the production of robots Apollo It has been done.

This collaboration of the second most important experimental program Appronik It is considered. Previously, on March 1, the company Apollo It was used in the Mercedes -Benz production lines. Although collaborating with the automaker continues, it has not yet gone beyond the experimental phase.

In this new collaboration, in addition to testing the robot Apollo In factories JabilThe two companies will also work as a production partners. If Apollo Be commercially assessed by successful, Jabil It will start producing the robot in its factories. This means that if everything goes through the program, they will eventually participate in the construction of their counterparts.

Given the focus of the anthropological robot industry on production and logistics, such agreements seem inevitable. , Of course, Appronik There is still a long way to go to the stage where its robots can build other robots. The startup has recently announced that it will start its robots’ commercial production in year 6.

Currently, cooperate with Jabil Includes the use of an unspecified number of systems Apollo For simple, repetitive logistics and manufacturing tasks, it will be like sorting and carrying parts. Successful performance Apollo In the real environment, it will be a key step for scalability and integration into production lines. Whatever Apollo In factories Jabil Better to do, get closer to the stage to build itself.

Appronik It is one of the few companies developing humanist robots for industrial applications. Other companies active in this field can be Agility, Boston Dynamics, Figure And Tesla He mentioned. Among these companies, so far only Agility It has been able to remove its robots from the test phase and use it operational.

Despite the fierce competition in this area, Appronik has several competitive advantages. In addition to investing several hundred million dollars, the company, founded as a spin -off from the University of Texas, has more than a decade of experience in human robots and has participated in projects such as NASA’s Valkyrie robot. Also, in the last December, Appronik Of cooperation with Google Deepmind To develop Artificial Intelligence The robots announced.