Apptronik x Google DeepMind (Gemini Robotics)

AI research lab and subsidiary of Alphabet, headquartered in London with major presence in Mountain View, California. The robotics team, led by Senior Director Carolina Parada, develops the Gemini Robotics and Gemini Robotics-ER (extended reasoning) foundation models, designed to bring multimodal AI into physical robots across multiple hardware platforms. Announced as a 'brain' partner for several leading humanoid and general-purpose robotics companies: Apptronik (December 2024 partnership, and Google was a lead investor in Apptronik's $403M Series A in March 2025); Boston Dynamics (January 2026 partnership announced at CES, integrating Gemini Robotics with the new electric Atlas humanoid, with all 2026 Atlas production committed to Hyundai and DeepMind, and commercial deployment at Hyundai Metaplant America in Savannah, Georgia planned for 2028); Agile Robots (March 2026 partnership integrating Gemini Robotics with their hardware); and Spot (April 2026, Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 deployed on Boston Dynamics' quadruped for inspection tasks). DeepMind's robotics work positions it as one of a small number of frontier 'brain' suppliers to the physical-AI ecosystem, alongside [Physical intelligence](/companies/physical-intelligence), Skild AI, and NVIDIA.

Austin-based humanoid-robotics company, founded 2016 as a spinout of the Human Centered Robotics Lab at the University of Texas at Austin. Its humanoid [Apollo](/models/apptronik-apollo) (1.7m, 73kg, replaceable battery, modular design) is built for repetitive, physically demanding tasks in logistics, manufacturing, and retail, and is notable for the breadth of its enterprise engagements. Deployments/partnerships: Apollo has simultaneous engagements with Mercedes-Benz (automotive), [GXO](/companies/gxo) (logistics), and Jabil (electronics manufacturing, which is also a contract-manufacturing partner), plus [Google DeepMind](/companies/google-deepmind) (AI) and [NVIDIA](/companies/nvidia) (compute): broader multi-industry validation than most single-platform competitors. Financials: In February 2026 Apptronik closed a $520 million Series A extension, bringing its total Series A to over $935 million and total funding to roughly $1 billion, at a ~$5.5 billion valuation. Key investors include Google, Hyundai, Schaeffler, B Capital, and others.