Robotics developer Apptronik has announced a partnership with US company Jabil, which in addition to organizing supply chains for OEMs, designs and manufactures electronic boards and does contract assembly of electronics. As part of these agreements, Apptronik robots will be tested in real conditions at the Jabil plant.
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The report says that Jabil has several clients that are developing robots and automating warehouses. Against this background, the company expressed its readiness to create all the conditions for full testing of the humanoid robot Apptronik Apollo at its plant.
Apollo stands 173 cm tall and weighs 73 kg, and can operate without recharging for 4 hours, lifting and moving loads up to 25 kg. As part of the pilot program, Apptronik robots will perform simple and repetitive tasks such as sorting, picking, moving items, installing fasteners and assembly.
Jabil also expressed its willingness to begin manufacturing Apollo robots at its factories if the testing program is successful. This means that the companies’ joint activities could result in a production facility where robots will assemble similar robots. Apptronik noted that this idea is still quite far from being realized, but the company confirmed its intention to launch serial production of commercial versions of Apollo in 2026.
Before people start worrying about robots creating more robots, it’s important to understand how this increase in automation will affect job losses. Automation and AI developers regularly claim that their products will help people, not replace them entirely. They say it’s about letting machines do repetitive and monotonous tasks, allowing people to focus on other things.
Apptronik is pursuing a similar strategy. The company has previously said that its robots will give people more time to pursue projects that machines can’t. The company said in a statement that people whose jobs are taken over by Apollo robots will be able to spend more time on “creative, thought-provoking projects.”
It should be noted that for Apptronik, the deal with Jabil is already the second project in which Apollo robots will be tested in real production. In March last year, the company signed an agreement with Mercedes-Benz, which will allow Apptronik robots to begin performing some tasks at the automaker’s plant.