Inside a Humanoid Robot Factory Where Robots Can Help Build Themselves

Agility Robotics, the company behind bipedal humanoid robot Digit, has offered a look inside its RoboFab facility, a robot manufacturing facility in Salem, Oregon, that the company says will be able to produce more than 10,000 humanoid robots a year.

Agility’s Digit humanoid robot is designed to work alongside a human workforce in factories and industrial sites and help with repetitive tasks.

Construction of the 70,000-square-foot facility began late last year and is expected to open by year’s end. In addition to the more than 500 workers Agility expects to employ, Digit would also be working in the new factory moving loading and unloading totes as it does at Agility’s customers sites. 

Digit’s human-centric design allows it to “go where people go.” Initial applications include handling bulk materials in warehouses and distribution centers. Agility said with the launch of its new manufacturing facility, customers in its partner program can expect the first Digits to be delivered in 2024, with general market availability set for 2025.

Agility recently announced it partnered with global service delivery company Ricoh USA, in a move to expand Agility’s customer support capabilities across North America. 

For more humanoid robot and other embedded tech news subscribe to our free newsletter!

Related:GXO, Agility Robotics Team to Deploy Digit Humanoid Robot in Logistics

The agreement, which the companies describe as a first-of-its-kind for a humanoid robot, extends Agility's support system through Ricoh's Service Advantage program and offers additional resources for end users.

In June Agility Robotics signed a multi-year deal with GXO to deploy the Digit humanoid robot in GXO’s logistics operations.

The move followed GXO’s pilot program last year and the agreement is the industry’s “first formal commercial deployment of humanoid robots and first robots-as-a-service deployment of humanoid robots,” according to the company. 

Earlier this year, Amazon began deploying Agility Robotics humanoid robot Digit at its robotics research and development facility south of Seattle as part of a test project for possible wide-scale rollout.