As the competition for humanoid robots that combine artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics accelerates, Google has also actively entered this market.
On the 13th (local time), the robotics development corporation Aptonic announced it has secured an investment of $350 million (508 billion won) to expand the production of industrial humanoid robots.
This investment round was led by B Capital and Capital Factory, with Google also participating as an investor. However, the amount Google invested has not been disclosed.
Founded in 2016 in Texas, Aptonic is considered a competitor of electric vehicle corporations like Tesla and is currently developing an industrial humanoid robot named "Apollo." Tesla is also developing a humanoid robot called "Optimus" and plans to deploy it in its own factory within the year.
Google has a history of investing in robotics, having acquired and later sold Boston Dynamics, but there have not been many investment cases in humanoid robot startups. Analysts suggest that this investment may lead Google to take an active role in the humanoid robot market.
In the AI industry, the competition for humanoid robot development is also intensifying. Nvidia, Microsoft (MS), and OpenAI invested in the startup Figure last year, and Nvidia unveiled an AI learning platform for robots equipped with human-level intelligence at this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the world's largest electronics and information technology exhibition.
Google has also collaborated with Aptonic through its AI research organization DeepMind at the end of last year, beginning the development of AI that drives robotics.
Aptonic plans to expand the development of robots that can be applied in various fields, including healthcare, based on this investment.
Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs projected that the global humanoid robot market will reach $38 billion by 2035.