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Agility Robotics continues to have a leg up within the humanoid race. The corporate in the present day signed a multi-year cope with GXO Logistics Inc., the world’s largest pure-play contract logistics supplier, to deploy its Digit humanoids in varied logistics operations.
The primary official deployment of Digit is already up and operating, producing actual income for Agility Robotics, the inaugural RBR50 Robotic of the 12 months winner.
GXO mentioned it’s commercially deploying a “small fleet” of Digit robots at a Spanx facility in Connecticut. The logistics supplier is paying Agility Robotics underneath a robotics-as-a-service (RaaS) mannequin.
The businesses didn’t reveal what number of humanoids Spanx is utilizing or specifics of their RaaS settlement. They claimed that that is each the trade’s first formal industrial deployment of humanoids and the primary RaaS deployment of such robots.
“There shall be many firsts within the humanoid robotic market within the years to return, however I’m extraordinarily pleased with the truth that Agility is the primary with precise humanoid robots deployed at a buyer web site, producing income, and fixing real-world enterprise issues,” acknowledged Peggy Johnson, CEO of Agility Robotics. “Agility has at all times been targeted on the one metric that issues — delivering worth to our clients by placing Digit to work — and this milestone deployment raises the bar for all the trade.”
Johnson was named CEO of Agility Robotics in March. She is a veteran know-how chief who most just lately served as CEO of Magic Leap, which produces augmented actuality headsets. Johnson led the corporate’s shift from shopper to enterprise focus and recapitalized Magic Leap. She spoke concerning the deployment with CNBC, under:
Digit strikes totes at Spanx
Within the video on the prime of this text of Digit on the Spanx facility, the preliminary software seems to be just like the proof-of-concept pilot performed in late 2023. The robotic picks up totes from 6 River Methods‘ Chuck autonomous cell robots (AMRs) and locations the totes onto conveyors.
As you’ll be able to see within the video, Digit can decide up totes which are empty or full of girls’s shapewear merchandise. Digit also can decide up totes from both the underside of prime shelf of an AMR. All of this work is orchestrated by way of Agility Arc, the corporate’s cloud automation platform for deploying and managing Digit fleets.
Beneath the RaaS settlement, the businesses will proceed to discover further use circumstances and scale Digit utilization to fulfill demand all through the deployment.
Digit is 5 ft. 9 in. (5.7 m) tall, weighs 140 lb. (63.5 kg), and may elevate as much as 35 lb. (15.8 kg). Agility just lately launched a brand new finish effector referred to as Manipulation Device 2 (MT 2). The corporate mentioned it’s taking a modular method to greedy and can ultimately enable customers to swap out finish effectors based mostly on the duty at hand.
“Our R&D method is to accomplice with builders everywhere in the world to assist them construct and validate sensible use circumstances that enhance the working surroundings for our workers whereas optimizing operations for our clients,” mentioned Adrian Stoch, chief automation officer at GXO Logistics. “Agility shares this philosophy, and Digit is the right addition to work alongside our folks in our achievement middle. We’re delighted to progress our partnership by way of this crucial milestone.”
GXO signed a multi-year deal to formally deploy the Digit humanoid in warehouses. | Credit score: Agility Robotics
The race for humanoids heats up — once more
This can be a main milestone for Agility Robotics, which was based in 2015. The corporate initially constructed the Cassie robotic for researchers and builders earlier than turning its consideration to industrial humanoids. However Agility can’t relaxation on its laurels.
Not solely does a brand new humanoid robotic or startup seemingly launch every month, GXO isn’t placing all of its eggs into one basket. On prime of utilizing varied kinds of robots, GXO simply final week introduced that it’s additionally testing Apollo from Apptronik.
Boston Dynamics, Determine, Fourier Intelligence, Sanctuary, Tesla, and Unitree are just some different corporations additionally engaged on industrial humanoids. Jerry Pratt quietly left his chief know-how officer place at Determine AI to launch a humanoid startup with fellow robotics veteran Nicolaus Radford referred to as Persona AI. China needs in on the motion, saying it can mass-produce humanoids by 2025.
Digit gained the inaugural RBR50 Robotic of the 12 months Award by demonstrating the power for humanoids to carry out real-world work. Amazon has additionally examined Digit for tote-recycling duties, nevertheless it’s unclear the place that partnership stands. Now we have reached out to Agility Robotics and GXO to study extra.
There are not any security requirements for humanoids in the meanwhile. Most producers and integrators are leveraging current industrial robotic requirements to place a baseline collectively. Digit will not be working with or close to people on the Spanx facility.
ASTM launched its F45.06 Legged Robotic Methods to develop take a look at and efficiency requirements. IEEE’s Robotics & Automation Society just lately shaped of a brand new research group that may look into the present humanoid panorama after which develop a roadmap for future requirements.
