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2023 was the yr that humanoid robots took massive strides onto the general public stage, and Agility Robotics pulled forward in that race with Digit, which is our first-ever RBR50 Robotic of the Yr.
At ProMAT final yr, Digit stole the present by demonstrating its capability to choose up totes from a shelf, stroll over to a conveyor, and place the totes onto the conveyor. On the time, Corvallis, Ore.-based Agility Robotics stated the demo was based mostly on an actual buyer use case.
Later in 2023, the corporate introduced pilots with two main clients: Amazon and GXO Logistics, which claims to be the world’s largest pure-play contract logistics supplier. Digit is 5 ft., 9 in (175cm) tall, weighs 143 lb. (64.8 kg), and may carry as much as 35 lb. (18 kg).
In October, Amazon and Agility stated the humanoid robotic was being examined at Amazon’s robotics analysis and improvement facility exterior of Seattle. The preliminary use of Digit is to assist workers with tote recycling, a extremely repetitive strategy of selecting up and shifting empty totes as soon as stock has been fully picked out of them.
In December 2023, GXO introduced that Digit is being examined for logistics duties at a SPANX facility in Georgia. Digit is shifting totes crammed with merchandise off of autonomous cellular robots (AMRs) and onto a conveyor. Agility stated on the time that Digit will talk with the AMR fleet supervisor sooner or later.
Adrian Stoch, chief automation officer at GXO, stated Digit’s potential flexibility provides it a nod over different kinds of robots, together with AMRs with prime modules.
“The actual utility right here is end-to-end product movement all through the warehouse,” he stated. “Till now, options have been principally discrete purposes: goods-to-person, sorters, wearable tech. Fixing discrete issues in a single a part of the puzzle.”
For corporations working success facilities with a large product combine or fluctuating demand, the potential flexibility of humanoids might assist fill the continued labor disaster.
Agility Robotics not too long ago launched Agility Arc, a cloud platform for managing operations, and it partnered with warehouse administration techniques (WMS) supplier Manhattan Associates.
We’ve by no means seen a humanoid carry out actual duties in a business setting, till now. Humanoids have lengthy been relegated to analysis labs, however the goalposts started to seismically shift in 2023.
Be taught from Agility Robotics, Amazon, Disney, Teradyne and plenty of extra.
See Agility on the Robotics Summit
Jonathan Hurst, co-founder and chief robotic officer at Agility Robotics, might be keynoting the Robotics Summit & Expo, which takes place Might 1 and a couple of in Boston and is produced by The Robotic Report and father or mother firm WTWH Media. His discuss, “Humanoid Robots Get to Work,” will discover the technological breakthroughs propelling humanoids like Digit into real-world use circumstances.
Agility Robotics may also be featured within the present’s RBR50 Showcase. Go to Sales space 448 on the present ground to see Digit in motion. The showcase may also function know-how from Boston Dynamics, Brightpick, Locus Robotics, and extra.
You too can be taught extra about Agility Robotics and the remainder of this yr’s RBR50 award winners on the first-ever RBR50 Gala. At 6:00 p.m. EDT after Day 1 of the present, the ticketed reception will permit attendees to community with the individuals behind this yr’s most modern robots.
Registration is now open for the Robotics Summit & Expo.