Tesla Robotics development rival Apptronik announced $350 million in Series A funding Thursday morning to expand AI-powered production Humanoid robot.
The funding round is led by B Capital and Capital Factory, including GoogleCEO Jeff Cardenas said in an exclusive Squawk Box interview on Thursday.
Texas-based robot developer Apptronik, founded in 2016, after raising $28 million, is now deploying what the company calls “groundbreaking” humanoid robots that designed Apollo for industrial work. .
Jeff Cardenas, Apptronik Apollo and Yemi AD at Featured Conference: Robot Renaissance: Dawn of Humanoid Innovation as part of the SXSW 2024 Conference and held on March 14, 2024 in Hilton Austin, Texas . ((
Mike Jordan | SXSW Conferences and Festivals | Getty Images
“What’s happening in robotics is robots, and the power of artificial intelligence has become more versatile,” Cardenas said. “Now, we’re going into the world in a considerable way and expanding them from industry to the future.”
The new funding will allow the company to expand its robot development to address applications such as manufacturing and healthcare. Cardenas said the robots will be trained separately from humans before they begin to integrate into human life.
Apptronik works with NASA, Nvidia Because it competes with Elon Musk’s Tesla in terms of the iterative effect of the iterative robot. The company has developed 15 robot systems, including NASA’s humanoid robot Valkyrie.
“The target price is to get these robots below the price of cars, so we’ve been working for years and we’re taking the ninth iteration of human robots,” Cardenas said. “As time goes by, these robots will Become more affordable.”
The company also collaborated with Google DeepMind to develop AI that drives robotics technology.
Tesla’s Tesla”Optimus” was exhibited at the 2023 World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, China on July 6, 2023.
Costfoto | Parenting | Getty Images
Tesla also moved to the rapidly developing humanoid robotics industry Tesla Optimus Prime robot. according to Goldman SachsBy 2035, the global human robot market may reach US$38 billion.
“I think we’re in the game,” Cardenas said. “I think this round represents that our investors are really supporting us and think we have real efforts to win this game. ”
