Bold Names The Google-Backed Startup Taking on Elon Musk in Humanoid Robotics
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Sep 26, 2025 
Jeff Cardenas, Co-founder and CEO of Apptronik, shares his vision of humanoid robots as our future caregivers, inspired by his aging grandfathers. He outlines a three-stage roadmap for robot deployment, from industries to homes by 2035. Cardenas emphasizes the importance of owning actuators for enhanced robot dexterity and discusses Apptronik's collaborations with Google and DeepMind AI. He also explains how robots can become affordable, costing under $50,000, and argues that robotics will revolutionize productivity and national security in the U.S.
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Personal Motivation From Family Care
- Jeff Cardenas started Apptronik motivated by watching his grandfathers lose dignity while aging and needing constant care.
- He founded the company to build robots that handle tasks people don't want to do and restore independence.
Three-Stage Roadmap To Homes
- Apptronik plans a three-stage rollout: industrial, public commercial, then home assistive care.
- The company views humanoids as a general-purpose platform that will scale like personal computers did.
Sensors And Actuators Are Core
- Modern robots move from position-controlled scripting to sensor-driven dynamic control with cameras and force sensing.
- Actuators and sensors together determine robot performance and cost, so owning actuators matters to Apptronik.