The future of humanoid robots is being developed by a Texas company called Apptronik.

You may remember Rosie the Robot from “The Jetsons” cartoon that first aired in 1962.

This is where we’re testing out the latest prototype so the robot you see here is a test bed basically to learn about how to walk and move in a humanoid robot,” Apptronik CEO and Co-Founder Jeff Cardenas said.

Cardenas points to a robot on the test floor that’s walking around a square test area with kind of a clunky walk. But what's different is that the robot is not pre-programmed–it's reacting to its environment.

“It has a sensor in its chest that tells it where it’s at in space and it’s controlling its orientation to stay up but it’s doing all that on the fly,” Cardenas said.

He said what’s happening will be revolutionary.

“Our goal is to bring forth the next generation of robots,” Cardenas said. “We call them general purpose robots and they’re totally going to change the way we live and work.”

Instead of doing just one repetitive task, these robots will be doing hundreds of different tasks, maybe some laundry or yard work, and have dinner ready for you when you come home.

“They can reactively adapt and respond to what's going on around them,” Cardenas said. “And now they can be used across a whole range of new tasks and activities.”

New tasks can be changed on the fly.

“The exciting thing about these general-purpose robots is (snap) they’re a software update away from a new behavior or a new functionality,” Cardenas said.

Apptronik evolved out of the Human Centered Robotics Lab at the University of Texas and the team worked on groundbreaking projects such as NASA’s “Valkyrie” humanoid robot.

“So today we're one of the few places on earth that had this level of technical sophistication and capability,” Apptronik Chief Technology Officer Nick Paine said.

Paine says they build all the systems in-house, a full stack program.

“So that means, you know, we’re designing the motors, the electronics, the software, everything kind of builds on top of each other,” Paine said.

Paine said now the team can build robots that are stronger, more affordable and have better functionality than ever before. Apptronik is about to have a big announcement soon in conjunction with NASA about its latest project called “Apollo.”

“We’re at the beginning of an exciting inflection point,” Cardenas said.

The city of Austin is the heart of this operation.

“We believe Austin is the place to build this type of company,” Cardenas said. “What Austin really represents is sort of the intersection between the arts and technology.”

As this brave new world takes shape, Cardenas has a bold prediction.

One day I believe there’s going to be a robot in every home,” he said. “That seems like a crazy idea to say right now. But back in the 90’s it seemed like a crazy idea to say there was going to be a computer in every home.”