Mercedes-Benz’s Collaboration with Apptronik and their Apollo Humanoid Robot
On March 18th, 2025, Mercedes-Benz tried out humanoid robots made by a U.S. company called Apptronik. These robotic revolutions are being utilized for tasks such as moving parts to the production line and inspecting for quality and standing out Mercedes-Benz as one of the advance automakers to experiment with humanoid robots in their manufacturing process.
The German company Mercedes-Benz has invested a double-digit million-euro amount in Apptronik. This Texas-based firm, founded in 2016, is competing with other companies like Tesla and Nvidia-backed Figure artificial intelligence solutions to develop advanced AI-powered humanoid robots.
Recently, a few of Apptronik’s robots, named “Apollo,” have taken their first steps in production at Mercedes-Benz. The Apollo robots stand 5 feet 8 inches tall and have been trained to perform specific tasks through “teleoperation.” This means humans control them remotely, helping them learn to perform these tasks independently over time.
Jeff Cardenas, the CEO of Apptronik, expressed excitement about the development of Artificial Intelligence Solutions. “This is a really big day for us,” he said. “We’re excited to show this off and for the public to see the humanoid robots live and in person.”
Since, Mercedes-Benz is testing these computer robots at its Digital Factory Campus in Marienfelde, Berlin, and in Kecskemét, Hungary. The company plans to introduce them to more locations, according to Jörg Burzer, the production chief, who shared updates with journalists in Berlin.
“There’s one big advantage,” Burzer noted. “A humanoid robot is flexible so that you can use it on an assembly line, for internal logistics, or quality inspection. You can easily move it from one place to another.”
Investors are optimistic about the future of Robotic Process Automation (RPA). One recent forecast suggests that the humanoid robot market could grow 20 times in the next eight years, with predictions of millions of these machines by 2050.
However, creating a genuinely general-purpose Robotic Process Automation (RPA) that can operate outside controlled environments, such as factories, remains a challenge. Apptronik acknowledges that developing AI capable of understanding the real world as humans do is still in progress. This raises questions about when robots might take over jobs or act unpredictably, but those concerns can be addressed later.
