Jeff Cardenas, CEO of Austin-based Apptronik, discusses building the Apollo humanoid robot, its commercial path, and competition with Tesla and China on WSJ Podcasts’ Bold Names.
Cardenas says Apollo is being developed for a broad range of human tasks, but its current focus is straightforward manufacturing and logistics work such as picking and placing. His motivation comes partly from seeing his grandfathers lose independence as they aged; he hopes robots can take on difficult care tasks and help people retain dignity.
Cardenas lays out three stages: industrial settings, public-facing commercial settings such as retail and healthcare, and eventually homes. He expects robots to reach homes by 2035, while acknowledging that adoption speed is uncertain. He compares the current moment to an early era of personal computing, with commercial uses already emerging.
Apptronik sees actuators, sensors, and feedback as central to making robots responsive to their surroundings, unlike scripted machines that repeat fixed steps. Cardenas says Google is an anchor investor and that Apptronik is working with Google DeepMind on AI. He describes foundation models as a way for robots to learn tasks from human demonstrations and add capabilities more quickly.
Cardenas says Apptronik knows how to make a robot below $50,000, but lacks the supply chain and production volume to bring costs down at scale. The company is assembling robots in Austin and plans to expand work with contract manufacturer Jabil while focusing on its robot and software strengths. He says the broader ambition will require billions of dollars in funding.
Cardenas names Tesla and Figure as competitors and says Chinese companies have manufacturing capacity, fast iteration, and more collaboration through shared data and open designs. He points to China's national robotics strategy, including a reported 1 trillion yuan fund and incentives for buyers. He argues that robotics could raise productivity and affect U.S. competitiveness and security; for home adoption, he says trust will matter.
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