The Future Now Walks on Two Legs – Mercedes Hires a Robot

So, the day has finally come – the first humanoids are clocking in at the assembly line. The Apollo robot, recently employed by Mercedes-Benz, is now doing everything humans can’t be bothered with – heavy lifting, boring repetition, and mind-numbing routine.

Apollo is roughly the size of a slender German after lunch – 170 cm tall and weighing 73 kilograms. He can lift loads of up to 25 kilograms without so much as a sigh or a nervous cigarette break. His mission? To make sure all the right parts end up in all the right places. No complaints about back pain, no “I can’t come in, my cat’s sick.”

Mercedes insists humans are still very much part of the equation. “We still need brilliant minds who truly understand the complexities of building a car,” says production boss Jörg Burzer. Though frankly, if Apollo learns how to drink coffee and deliver dry sarcasm, Jörg himself might want to keep his résumé updated.

What makes Apollo particularly well-suited for line work is his form – he moves like a human. That means there’s no need to redesign the entire factory floor, no dedicated robot tracks, conveyor lanes, or parking docks. Just a quiet, two-legged coworker who never asks for vacation time.

And if all goes according to plan, this is the future: robots building cars, robots cleaning up, robots fetching your beer... And you? You'll be sitting there, watching as robots live your life better than you ever did.