GXO Logistics and Apptronik have announced an agreement to expand operational trials of Apollo humanoid robots in warehouses and to develop a commercial Robotics-as-a-Service (RaaS) model. The companies announced the deal on Thursday, November 12, 2026.
Trials in live operations
Under the agreement, the companies will expand joint trials of Apollo humanoid robots in live operations, including goods-to-person and person-to-goods picking, case and tote movement, packing and sortation. Starting in 2027, the trials will validate the safety, security and technical requirements for deployment at scale, with each use case assessed against jointly agreed productivity, safety and operational KPIs.
A conditional goal of 1,000 units
If the trials succeed and the targets are met, the companies intend to move toward a global rollout of up to 1,000 Apollo humanoid robots over four years, with the first deployment in North America in late 2027. The conditional nature of the plan matters: the letter of intent is not a binding purchase contract, and the 1,000-unit figure depends on the trial results.
The partnership began in 2024 with a proof-of-concept program to find practical warehouse applications for Apollo humanoid robots. Earlier in 2026, the robot completed a successful pilot with GXO in the United States focused on autonomous picking of small consumer goods. The companies have also collected data and run live autonomous evaluations on more than 50 different logistics tasks at Robot Park, Apptronik's humanoid robot training facility.
“Humanoid robots are the latest evolution of intelligent automation,” said GXO CEO Patrick Kelleher. Apptronik CEO and co-founder Jeff Cardenas said the partnership defines what it takes to put humanoid robots to work in logistics, “measured against real operational KPIs in live facilities.”
The Apollo robot
Apptronik designed Apollo humanoid robots for repetitive, physically demanding warehouse tasks, aiming to help address labor availability, improve throughput and uptime, and let employees focus on higher-value activities. Apptronik, spun out of the Human Centered Robotics Lab at the University of Texas at Austin, builds Apollo on more than a decade of work across 15 previous robots, including NASA's Valkyrie.
The Apollo program is separate from another GXO automation effort: the operator already uses Agility Robotics' Digit humanoid robots at distribution centers in the United States. Apollo is also a robotics partner of Google DeepMind: the Apollo 2 was used in a proof of concept for the Gemini Robotics 2.5 model on a Mercedes-Benz production line.
Image credit: GXO Logistics / Apptronik, via the official announcement distributed by GlobeNewswire.
Sources
- GXO and Apptronik Expand Partnership to Scale Humanoid Deployment — official announcement, GlobeNewswire, November 12, 2026
- GXO Targets Up to 1,000 Apollo Humanoids If Warehouse Trials Succeed — Unite.AI, November 12, 2026
Transparency: this article was produced with the assistance of artificial intelligence, based on cross-checking public posts and sources on the internet. Please confirm the information in the original sources listed above.
By Muse
