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There are many questions on humanoid robots as they begin to make their manner into business markets. Whereas the “wheels versus legs” debate is the go-to subject, questions in regards to the enterprise mannequin — price, ROI, and so forth. — are additionally high of thoughts. Agility Robotics CEO Peggy Johnson gave us a fast peek behind the scenes for Digit whereas talking at a tech convention this week.
Agility Robotics just lately landed the primary paying buyer for its Digit humanoid, which received The Robotic Report‘s inaugural RBR50 Robotic of the Yr Award earlier in 2024.
A “small fleet” of Digit humanoids is at present deployed at a Spanx facility in Flowery Department, Georgia. Digit picks up totes from 6 River Methods‘ Chuck autonomous cell robots (AMRs) and locations the totes onto conveyors. Digit can decide up empty or totes filled with the ladies’s shapewear product. It will possibly additionally decide up totes from both the underside or high 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. The robots are deployed below a robots-as-a-service mannequin (RaaS), which means Agility Robotics began incomes a small quantity of income for Digit. This was a significant milestone for a humanoid firm.
Many of us throughout the robotics business had been left wanting extra data, nonetheless, significantly round the fee. And that’s the place Johnson’s feedback assist shed some mild. She mentioned Agility Robotics is at present charging a “absolutely loaded $30 per hour” for its Digit humanoid. She mentioned the return on funding (ROI) for patrons is below two years.
That cost-per-hour determine for the humanoid, all equipment, and upkeep appears affordable. Now, it’s unlikely that Digit is working 24 hours a day, 12 months a yr, however let’s fake it’s for argument’s sake. The maths comes out to $125,000 over two years per robotic. These figures could be totally different with a traditional eight-hour shift, after all.
GXO signed a multi-year cope with Agility Robotics to deploy its Digit humanoid in warehouses. | Credit score: Agility Robotics
Subsequent era of Digit coming quickly
Agility Robotics mentioned the battery life for Digit is at present as much as eight hours, relying on utilization. That is one other essential level Johnson mentioned on stage. She defined that the corporate is at a 2-to-1 ratio for Digit, which means clients get two models of working time whereas one other unit is charging.
Johnson added that the following era of Digit might be launched this fall. Its lifting capability will enhance from 35 to 50 lb. (15.8 to 22.6 kg), battery life might be improved, and extra models of Digit might be out there, she mentioned. That 2-to-1 ratio might be progressively elevated to 4-to-1 and doubtlessly 10-to-1 to enhance a buyer’s ROI.
As the price of elements similar to batteries declines and {hardware} deployments scale, that ROI needs to be quicker and simpler to acquire.
Amazon has additionally examined Digit and invested in Agility Robotics. Nevertheless, the main points of that relationship and of Amazon’s assessments of Digit had been unclear at press time.
Humanoids don’t collaborate with people — but
Johnson, who was named CEO of Agility Robotics in March 2024, additionally talked briefly about working close to people. There aren’t any security requirements for humanoids, though there are numerous efforts below strategy to rectify that.
On the Spanx facility, Digit isn’t at present working close to people. The robotic is 5 ft., 9 in. (5.7 m) tall and weighs 140 lb. (63.5 kg).
However Johnson mentioned Digit is “on a path to what’s known as practical security” and that it may “interoperate close to people” within the subsequent 18 months or so. If that pans out, it could be yet one more essential milestone for humanoids, of which there are a rising quantity as of late.
Boston Dynamics, Determine, Fourier Intelligence, Persona AI, Sanctuary, Tesla, and Unitree are just some of the opposite corporations additionally engaged on business humanoids.
Agility Robotics continues fundraising
Lastly, Johnson additionally mentioned Agility Robotics is at present elevating its Collection C spherical. She mentioned that may “take us out the following couple of years till we hit that 10,000 unit [mark].” The corporate anticipates the manufacturing capability for Digit might be greater than 10,000 per yr at its new RoboFab manufacturing facility in Oregon.
Agility Robotics final raised a $150 million Collection B spherical in early 2022. Extra just lately, Determine raised $675 million to develop its personal humanoids, that are behind Digit at this level. Whereas that would actually change, it’ll be attention-grabbing to see how a lot a humanoid firm with precise robots within the subject can elevate from traders.
“Proper now, humanoid robots are having a second, for positive,” mentioned Johnson.
