Join Us
Humanoid Robot
Apollo 1 marked a defining step in Apptronik’s journey toward a general-purpose humanoid robot. Built from years of experience across legged mobility, manipulation, actuation, controls, and human-robot interaction, Apollo brought many of Apptronik’s core technologies together into a single human-centered platform. Designed to work in spaces built for people, Apollo translated the lessons of earlier research platforms into a robot that could move through real environments, interact more naturally with people, and take on useful physical work. In many ways, Apollo represents the point where years of specialized robot development began to converge into one complete system.
Humanoid Robot
QDH advanced Apptronik’s work in upper-body humanoid robotics, helping refine the compact, high-performance actuation and manipulation capabilities needed for robots that can work safely around people. As an upper-body platform, QDH helped explore how humanoid arms, torso movement, and control systems could support more natural interaction and useful task execution. Its ability to be paired with different mobility bases also reinforced an important idea that continues into Apollo: the upper body and mobility platform must work together, but they can be developed in ways that allow flexibility across different embodiments and use cases.
Humanoid Robot
Astra represents one of Apptronik’s most important upper-body humanoid platforms and a direct bridge toward Apollo’s manipulation and interaction capabilities. Designed to operate with and around humans, Astra helped Apptronik refine how a robot can use compact actuation, coordinated upper-body motion, and human-aware design to perform tasks in shared environments. The platform brought together lessons in manipulation, perception, and control, showing how humanoid robots could begin to perform practical work with their arms and hands. Those insights helped inform Apollo’s ability to operate as a more complete humanoid system.
Biped Robot
QDB, or Quick Development Biped, was an early bipedal mobility platform that helped Apptronik build the foundation for dynamic legged movement. Through QDB, the team developed critical capabilities such as self-balancing, disturbance rejection, terrain robustness, and online controls. These are essential building blocks for any humanoid robot expected to operate in the real world, where floors, obstacles, human movement, and changing environments create constant complexity. QDB helped turn bipedal locomotion from a research challenge into a practical capability that could later support Apollo’s full humanoid mobility.
Humanoid Robot
QDA was an early upper-body humanoid testbed that helped Apptronik develop the actuation and control approaches later seen in more advanced platforms like Astra. As a predecessor platform, QDA gave the team a place to test how humanoid upper bodies could move, coordinate, and interact in ways that were useful for real-world tasks. It contributed to Apptronik’s understanding of compact actuator design, controlled motion, and the mechanical architecture needed for capable humanoid manipulation. The knowledge gained from QDA helped shape the evolution from individual subsystems to the integrated upper-body capabilities now central to Apollo.
Biped Robot
Draco was Apptronik’s first biped and a key platform for advancing high-performance legged locomotion. Built as a liquid-cooled, 10-degree-of-freedom bipedal system, Draco was designed for speed, power, and efficient dynamic movement. It also served as a flexible research platform for humanoid systems, with low-level control access and integration support for real-time Linux and ROS environments. Draco helped Apptronik unlock agile dynamic walking and deepen its expertise in the control, power, and mechanical design required for robots that move with confidence. That bipedal knowledge became a critical part of the technical foundation behind Apollo.
Mobile Manipulator
Scorpio explored one of the most important challenges in robotics: how to make manipulation powerful, efficient, and deployable on mobile platforms. As a mobile manipulator, Scorpio used patented gravity-compensation technology to lift more than it weighed, enabled by mechanical breakthroughs in spring technology. This allowed the electric-powered arm to passively compensate for gravity, reducing power consumption while maintaining strength in a compact package. Scorpio helped Apptronik develop the payload, efficiency, and packaging insights needed for robotic arms that can do meaningful physical work - knowledge that directly supports Apollo’s manipulation capabilities.
Exoskeleton
Sagittarius advanced Apptronik’s understanding of wearable robotics, force transfer, and human-centered mechanical design. As a lightweight, electrically actuated exoskeleton, Sagittarius was built to offload the operator by transferring forces directly to the ground. With actuated hips, knees, and ankles, liquid-cooled actuation, and force-sensitive interfaces at the feet and torso, the platform helped Apptronik study how robotic systems can move with and support the human body. Those lessons in safety, force control, ergonomics, and human-machine interaction informed the broader mission of building robots that help people rather than simply automate around them.
Exoskeleton
Apex continued Apptronik’s work in load-bearing exoskeletons with a focus on gravity offload, high efficiency, and reduced physical and cognitive load. Designed with ranges of motion and degrees of freedom uncommon in many load-bearing exoskeletons, Apex pushed the team to develop systems that could support human movement while remaining lightweight, responsive, and robust. Its combination of low mass, efficient actuation, high-acceleration performance, and reliability helped Apptronik deepen its understanding of how robotic hardware can reduce strain while preserving natural motion. That human-support philosophy remains central to Apollo’s purpose.
Humanoid Robot
Valkyrie was a foundational humanoid robotics project for Apptronik’s team. Apptronik’s co-founders were selected to work on NASA’s Valkyrie robot for the DARPA Robotics Challenge, contributing to actuators and controls for one of the most ambitious humanoid platforms of its time. Valkyrie featured 44 degrees of freedom, with series elastic actuators in many of its joints, and incorporated Apptronik’s novel linear actuator technology. The lessons learned from Valkyrie helped shape Apptronik’s approach to actuation, controls, safety, and full-body humanoid design - technical threads that continue through the company’s later platforms and ultimately into Apollo.
