Tesla 'Targeted'... Google Also Joins 'Humanoid Robot' Competition

Google Joins Investment in Apptronic Robot Development
'Apollo' Emerges as a Rival to Tesla's 'Optimus'
Plans to Manufacture for Industrial Use Including Healthcare
Google Developing AI to Power Robotic Technology
Global Humanoid Robot Market
Expected to Reach $3.8 Billion by 2035

Google has entered the humanoid robot competition. While other big tech companies have jumped in, Google was previously seen as passive in investing in humanoid robots. However, by choosing to invest in the U.S. robotics developer Apttronic, Google has declared its participation. The plan is to utilize robots in various fields including healthcare.

Apttronic announced on the 13th (local time) that it has raised $350 million (508 billion KRW) to expand the production scale of humanoid robots. CEO Jeff Cardenas explained that this funding round was jointly led by B Capital and Capital Factory. The amount invested by Google has not been disclosed. Apttronic is considered a competitor to Tesla in the humanoid robot arena. Like Tesla’s 'Optimus,' Apttronic is currently manufacturing an industrial humanoid robot called 'Apollo.'

Google’s investment is seen as the start of serious robot development competition among major big tech companies. DeepMind, Google’s artificial intelligence (AI) organization, is developing the AI that powers Apttronic’s robot technology. Apttronic plans to expand its robot development to be used in various fields such as healthcare with this new investment. Google has previously invested in robotics, including acquiring and later selling Boston Dynamics.

According to Goldman Sachs, the global market size for humanoid robots is expected to reach $38 billion by 2035. Tesla is developing a robot called 'Optimus' and plans to deploy it in its own factories within this year. The goal is to produce up to 10,000 Optimus robots by the end of the year. The initial production robots will be deployed first in Tesla factories to replace simple repetitive tasks such as carrying car body frames. Starting next year, Tesla will begin external sales to companies. They also plan to release 'Optimus 2' and increase production tenfold annually. Recently, Tesla reportedly issued parts inspection guidelines to related suppliers for mass production of Optimus.

NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang announced a platform last month at CES, the world’s largest electronics and IT exhibition, that enables robots to learn from vast amounts of real-world data necessary to achieve human-level intelligence. He said, "The ChatGPT moment for robots is approaching," suggesting that just as ChatGPT opened the AI era, a physical AI era centered on robots is not far off.

In addition, Microsoft (MS), OpenAI, Amazon, and NVIDIA invested last year in the humanoid development startup 'Figure.' It is known that domestic companies LG Innotek and Samsung’s investment arms also invested in Figure. Figure was founded in 2021 by engineers from Boston Dynamics, which was acquired by Tesla and Hyundai Motor Group.

There are calls for South Korea to establish a foundation for robot development. Samsung and LG have recently acquired robot companies one after another. However, it is pointed out that conditions such as data acquisition need to be established to accelerate development.

Last month, the National Information Society Agency (NIA) of Korea emphasized in its report titled 'Current Status of Human-Centered Robots and Measures to Enhance Social Acceptance' that "human-centered robots require extensive learning data collection due to the necessity of interaction experience with humans in real environments, but data acquisition is not easy," and stressed that "a data construction environment is needed to revitalize domestic robot research."