Up to now, the industry of humanoid robotics has been all about promises and pilots. Such programs include a small number of robots and usually do not proceed to something more meaningful, although they are essential in the eventual deployment of new technology.
This Thursday, though, Agility announced it entered a formal deal after a successful pilot with logistics giant GXO. Digit's first task will be to move plastic totes around a Spanx factory in Georgia—not a euphemism.
Neither party has revealed just how many of the bipedal robots will be pulling boxes off cobots and placing them onto conveyor belts, but that figure likely remains on the small side.
When you're talking tens or hundreds of thousands, the parties involved would usually be only too keen to divulge that information. The systems are being leased as part of a RaaS (robots-as-a-service) model rather than sold outright.
This means the client can defer the massive upfront costs of such a complex system while maintaining access to support and software updates. GXO began piloting Digit robots last year.
The logistics company has also recently signed a pilot agreement with one of Agility's significant competitors, Apptronik. It's not yet clear to what extent one will influence the other. Peggy Johnson, who became CEO of Agility in March, has emphasized the firm's focus on ROI — a significant point of departure for a category of technology for which the results are still largely theoretical.
“There will be many firsts in the humanoid robot market in the years to come, but I’m extremely proud of the fact that Agility is the first with actual humanoid robots deployed at a customer site, generating revenue and solving real-world business problems,” Johnson said. “Agility has always been focused on the only metric that matters — delivering value to our customers by putting Digit to work — and this milestone deployment raises the bar for the entire industry.”
Oregon-based Agility has been ahead of the rest of the market in terms of development and deployment, so it’s not surprising to see the company be the first to another key milestone. Of course, this is still very much early days for the industry and no clear market leader has emerged.
Amazon began piloting Agility systems in its own warehouses last October, but neither company has made a formal announcement with regard to next steps.
