GXO Logistics, Inc. and Apptronik signed a letter of intent on November 12 to expand warehouse trials of the Apollo humanoid robot, with a potential global deployment of up to 1,000 units over four years under a Robotics-as-a-Service model3,4,5.
The deal scales a partnership that began in 2024, when the companies launched a proof-of-concept program to develop practical warehouse applications for Apollo. Earlier this year, Apollo completed a U.S. autonomous picking pilot focused on small consumer goods, and the companies evaluated more than 50 logistics tasks at Apptronik's Robot Park training facility.
Expanded trials and timeline
Expanded warehouse trials are planned to begin in 2027, testing Apollo across order picking (goods-to-person and person-to-goods), case and tote movement, packing, and sortation. An initial commercial deployment in North America is targeted for late 2027, contingent on the robots meeting jointly agreed productivity, safety, and operational KPIs.
Subject to those performance benchmarks, the companies intend to progress toward a global rollout of up to 1,000 Apollo units over the following four years. The commercial framework is expected to follow a RaaS structure, meaning GXO would pay for robotic labor as a service rather than purchasing hardware outright.
Executive framing
GXO CEO Patrick Kelleher called humanoid robots "the latest evolution of intelligent automation" and said their "increasing dexterity will make them one of the most transformative applications of physical AI in logistics". Apptronik CEO and co-founder Jeff Cardenas said the partnership is "defining what it takes to put humanoid robots to work in logistics — measured against real operational KPIs in live facilities, and delivering real value".
GXO describes itself as the world's largest pure-play contract logistics provider, operating more than 1,000 facilities with over 150,000 team members. Apptronik has nearly 500 employees.
ANALYSIS The LOI structure keeps the commitment conditional: the 1,000-unit figure is a ceiling, not a purchase order, and every use case must clear KPI gates before scaling. The RaaS model shifts capital risk from GXO to Apptronik, tying revenue to demonstrated warehouse performance rather than upfront hardware sales.
The announcement arrives the same day as coverage of Google DeepMind's Gemini Robotics 2.5 reaching 96% kitting accuracy on active Mercedes-Benz production lines, a proof-of-concept that also involved Apptronik's Apollo 2 robots[1]. Path Robotics closed a $300 million Series E at a $2.45 billion valuation on November 10[2].
Trials are set to validate safety, security, and technical requirements, with each use case assessed and sequenced against jointly agreed KPIs before scaled deployment proceeds.