GXO and Apptronik Expand Apollo Warehouse Trials, Consider Deployment of Up to 1,000 Units

GXO Logistics and Apptronik signed a letter of intent (LOI) on November 12, 2026, to expand real-world trials of Apollo, a humanoid robot. The companies outlined plans for a global deployment of up to 1,000 units over the next four years, contingent on meeting agreed productivity, safety and operational KPIs, among other conditions. Trials will begin in 2027, with an initial rollout in North America planned for the second half of 2027. The commercial framework is expected to include Robotics-as-a-Service (RaaS).

For warehouse operators, decisions about adopting Apollo will depend not only on picking but also on whether it meets task-specific KPIs and safety requirements for activities such as moving goods, packing and sorting. The up-to-1,000-unit figure is a conditional plan, and the companies have not disclosed RaaS pricing or maintenance terms. The announcement therefore does not establish the actual scale of deployment or the operational burden.

The scale of the announcement is indicated not only by the plan to deploy up to 1,000 units. Trials are due to begin in 2027, followed by an initial rollout in North America in the second half of that year. Any broader deployment is conditional on successful real-world trials and meeting agreed KPIs. The 1,000 units should therefore be viewed as a conditional plan with an upper limit, not as a confirmed order or deployment figure. The expected use of RaaS as the commercial framework is another element of the business model, but the announcement did not specify pricing, contract duration or how maintenance responsibilities will be divided. The trials will cover not only picking but also moving cases and totes, packing and sorting. This design moves beyond confirming that a single task can be performed to assessing applications across different warehouse operations. At the same time, the companies will set KPIs for each task and assess collaboration with existing automation and employees, so adoption will not be determined by the robot’s performance alone. The companies say they have collected data and evaluated autonomy across more than 50 logistics tasks, but that figure does not guarantee sustained operation or productivity in any specific task. GXO has announced plans to expand deployment of Agility Robotics’ Digit at two U.S. sites. Together with the Apollo plan, this shows that the company is working with multiple humanoid robot models at its facilities. However, the companies have not announced comparative trials on common tasks or criteria for selecting models. Comparing their performance would require information gathered under the same conditions, including the tasks involved, operating hours, intervention frequency and maintenance burden. We have also reported on Apollo handling automotive parts in a proof of concept for Gemini Robotics 2.5, but the 96% success rate reported there is not the same as a record of continuous operation in a warehouse. The latest plan will assess safety, security, technical requirements and KPIs in real logistics work. Points to watch include task-by-task evaluation results, the criteria for moving from trials to deployment, the actual number of units deployed out of the possible 1,000, and the terms of RaaS contracts and operations.

The trials will cover goods-to-person and person-to-goods picking in warehouses, moving cases and totes, packing and sorting. The companies will assess each application against jointly agreed productivity, safety and operational KPIs, and will also evaluate collaboration with existing automation equipment and GXO employees. Deployment of up to 1,000 units is conditional on successful trials and meeting the agreed KPIs. The companies began working together on a proof of concept in 2024. According to the announcement, they conducted a pilot in the United States focused on autonomous picking of small consumer goods. At Apptronik’s robot training facility, Robot Park, they collected data and evaluated autonomous operation across more than 50 different logistics tasks.