NASA has a long track record of engineering feats that have helped humans explore the depths of space. One of the agency’s next projects will help humans travel to new celestial bodies – but it may also one day help you do your laundry.

“You know, I’m ready for it. I’m tired of doing my dishes and laundry,” Jeff Cardenas, CEO of Apptronik, tells ZDNET.

Austin-based robotics company Apptronik is working with NASA to create a 5-foot 8-inch, 160-pound, general-purpose humanoid robot named Apollo. The robot is being designed to assist with tasks in space, the commercial sector — and, most interestingly, the home.

Apollo will be equipped to carry out a range of tasks in different environments with the mission of shouldering burdens that humans simply don’t need or want to do.

“The initial things that these robots are going to do are very sort of simple things, like move objects,” Cardenas says. “Things that we’re exerting a lot of energy on, and I think what this will do is free humans up to do things that are much more worthy of our time, and our talent.”

NASA and Apptronik first worked together in 2013, to build NASA’s Valkyrie Robot during the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC). Valkyrie was an all-purpose humanoid robot that could have walked straight out of a sci-fi movie.

As a result of that initial partnership, in September, NASA selected Apptronik as the commercial partner for a new generation of general-purpose robots, starting with Apollo.

The lessons learned from working on Valkyrie are being used to develop humanoid robots that are ready to take on Earth and beyond.

“What we’ve been doing as a company is basically maturing all the technology since Valkyrie to get it ready to commercialize, to move from R&D, to move to the real world,” said Cardenas.

December 12, 2022

Written by Sabrina Ortiz

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