Agility unveils Digit 5 for uncaged industrial deployment

Agility Robotics has unveiled Digit 5, the next generation of its humanoid platform, with a redesigned body, higher payload, longer reach, faster charging and a safety architecture intended to let the robot operate around people without physical barriers.

The central change from Digit 4 is safety. Agility says its current deployed robots use onboard safety systems including a safety PLC and controlled stopping, but still operate inside fenced workcells when motion or stability could pose a risk. Digit 5 is designed around what Agility calls cooperative safety: sharing industrial space with people while maintaining a safe distance.

Agility is the first humanoid launch partner for NVIDIA Halos for Robotics, with Digit 5 using NVIDIA IGX Thor and Halos Core for onboard safe-human detection alongside Agility’s own safety controls. The companies say the system will be tested against standards including IEC 61508, ISO 13849 and ISO/IEC TR 5469 before final third-party certification.

Agility’s investor materials list a payload increase from 35 lb to 50 lb, vertical reach from 5.5 ft to 7.2 ft, and a work-to-charge ratio moving from 2:1 to 10:1. Agility expects that to increase maximum operating time within a 24-hour period from about 16 hours to 22 hours.

Digit 5 also moves from fixed task-specific end effectors to changeable tooling. That broadens the platform beyond tote handling into workflows such as sorting, machine tending and more varied item manipulation.

The redesign also changes the form Digit has been known for since its research origins. Digit 5 drops the reverse-jointed leg geometry that defined earlier generations while retaining the upright biped form Agility has used in warehouses and factories.

Agility has disclosed more than $300 million of multi-year Digit 5 ordersin a recent Company filings describe 1,000 robots under a three-year Robots-as-a-Service contract with one purchaser. The arrangement is subject to contractual milestones and product specifications and includes warrants that vest as robots are deployed.

Digit 4 remains the platform currently deployed with customers including GXO, Schaeffler, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada and Mercado Libre. Across deployment commitments at nine facilities, Agility says Digit has logged more than 65,000 operating hours, while its GXO deployment has moved more than 100,000 totes.

Digit 5 is the platform Agility plans to scale next, the RoboFab facility in Salem, Oregon is designed for eventual production of up to 10,000 robots annually, although current production remains far below that level.

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