Digit humanoid demonstrates its latest functionality at ProMat 2025. Source: Agility Robotics
At ProMat last month, Agility Robotics Inc. unveiled new capabilities for Digit that the company said expand the humanoid robot’s utility for its growing user base.
“These upgrades allow Agility to expand Digit’s capabilities to meet our expanding commercial and customer needs,” stated Melonee Wise, chief product officer at Agility Robotics. “Together, they reinforce our commitment to cooperative safety, and demonstrate a path for Digit and human colleagues to one day work side by side.”
Salem, Ore.-based Agility Robotics said its robot is designed to augment the human workforce. Digit was named the 2024 RBR50 Robot of the Year for being the first humanoid to begin commercial trials and deployments in warehouses and manufacturing facilities.
Agility Robotics adds features
Working closely with customers, Agility Robotics designed features that it said will support rapid and scaled deployment of Digit fleets, including:
- Expanded and more efficient battery power with a duration of up to four hours
- Autonomous docking onto charging stations
- Streamlined manufacturing of the bipedal, multipurpose mobile manipulation robot (MMR)
- New robust limbs and end effectors, giving Digit a wider range of grasping angles and unlocking new use cases with expanded possibilities for manipulation
Digit integrated with AMRs
“Humanoid robots should be designed to work alongside autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), not replace them, and Digit is no exception,” noted Agility Robotics. “Humanoids excel at complex manipulation, grasping, and navigating human-centric spaces, while AMRs are masters of efficient transportation over longer distances.”
Digit can autonomously dispatch an AMR to deliver items to locations such as packout stations. This reduces the need for constant human intervention, maximizing efficiency and allowing workers to focus on more complex tasks, the company said. It has been working with AMR providers to enable this communcation.
Agility said its Arc cloud robotic platform now can call and dispatch AMRs. Digit has already been working alongside AMRs at its deployment with GXO Logistics near Atlanta. The company also demonstrated integration with AMRs from Mobile Industrial Robots and Zebra Technologies at ProMat in Chicago.
New robots address safety concerns
Standards exist for machine and robot safety, but safety standards for “dynamically stable industrial mobile robots” such as Digit that require balancing are still in the development. Agility Robotics said it is working on cooperative safety applications to meet the standards of OSHA-regulated environments necessary for humanoids to work alongside humans.
The company asserted that the latest version of Digit adheres to safety standards for industrial mobile robots. Agility said the new features represent a significant step toward deploying cooperative safety applications.
Digit’s enhanced user interface now features at-a-glance, front and back displays that help monitor Wi-Fi status, connectivity, connection to Agility Arc, battery levels and maintenance ports, making it easier to monitor and manage the robot.
The new safety features include:
- A Category 1, or CAT1 stop, which maintains power to the machine actuators during the deceleration process, allowing the machine to stop smoothly and safely before a shutdown.
- A safety programmable logic controller (PLC) provides safety functions that meet Performance Level d (PLd).
- An emergency stop or E-stop button on a robot is designed to immediately halt all robot movements and operations in case of an emergency. Its main purposes include preventing accidents, ensuring worker safety, complying with safety regulations, protecting equipment, and providing quick response control.
- FailSafe over EtherCAT (FSoE) is a safety protocol used in robotics and industrial automation to ensure safe communication between devices over an EtherCAT network. It enables the transmission of safety-critical data, such as emergency stop signals and sensor feedback, while also maintaining real-time performance.
Agility Robotics said it is committed to safety and is working to comply with multiple standards as it develops robots to eventually work alongside people.
Agility Arc provides control in the cloud
Agility Arc is a cloud-based platform that gives customers control of their automation for a wide range of logistics and manufacturing workflows. Agility claimed that it is the first humanoid fleet management system to successfully integrate and deploy humanoid robots in a commercial environment.
As part of its latest features, Agility Arc allows customers to communicate with AMRs and their corresponding platforms. Other new Agility Arc features include:
- Digit support
- Charger support
- Workcell EMS support
- Easy webhook integration
- Remote monitor, support, and maintenance of Digit and all accessories
- Continued and expanded Enterprise Systems Integration (MES, WMS, WES, PLC)
At ProMat, Digit demonstrated new use cases – including those integrated with AMRs – such as stacking and unstacking of totes, goods-to-person (G2P) or Unit Sorter, AMR loading and unloading, palletizing and depalletizing, nesting, flowrack and carts, and automated putwall.
Last month, Agility Robotics also announced that it is expanding its collaboration with NVIDIA Corp., expanding adoption of robot simulation and learning frameworks to train and test behaviors on Digit, as well as to make Digit models available to partners on NVIDIA Omniverse.
Learn more about humanoids at the Robotics Summit
Humanoids will be prominent at the 2025 Robotics Summit & Expo, which will be on April 30 and May 1 in Boston. Aaron Saunders, chief technology officer of Boston Dynamics, is giving the opening keynote of the event. He will discuss the recently redesigned Atlas robot and share his thoughts about the future humanoids.
The first day of the show will feature a panel about the state of humanoids with Pras Velagapudi, CTO at Agility Robotics; Aaron Prather, director of robotics and autonomous systems at ASTM International; and Al Makke, director of engineering at Schaeffler (which is also testing Digit). The panel will explore the technical and business challenges shaping the development of humanoids. It will also share insights from early deployments, what’s on the horizon, and the ongoing efforts to establish safety standards.
The Robotics Summit & Expo will brings together more than 5,000 developers focused on building robots for a variety of commercial industries. Attendees can gain insights into the latest enabling technologies, engineering best practices, and emerging trends.
The event will also include over 200 exhibitors, 60-plus speakers on stage, more than 10 hours of dedicated networking time, a Women in Robotics Breakfast, a career fair, startup showcase, and more. Returning to the show is the RBR50 Pavilion and RBR50 Awards Dinner, which will honor the winners of the annual RBR50 Robotics Innovation Awards.
First, congrats to Agility on the upgrades. It can get confusing when you talk about safety. First, it is important we understand the difference between cooperatively safe vs. collaboratively safe. The first means humans can be in the same room, but not near the humanoid. The second means they can alongside. The benefit with the first is they can tear down that wall necessary to keep humans and humanoid apart. The 2nd means humanoids actually can better help people–the Holly Grail!