Agility Robotics Unveils Digit 5 for Safer Warehouse Integration
The new humanoid robot aims to reduce reliance on physical safety barriers, allowing it to work closely alongside human employees in industrial settings.
Agility Robotics has released the Digit 5, a humanoid robot specifically designed to operate safely in close proximity to human workers. The company argues that this design addresses a primary obstacle preventing the widespread adoption of humanoid robots in industrial environments. By reducing the need for traditional protective barriers, the robot can function directly within shared workspaces.
The development follows three years of feedback from customers using the previous model on production floors. Agility reports that over $300 million in multi-year orders have been secured for the new system. The robot is intended to handle a broader range of tasks, from unloading goods to quality inspection, while coordinating with existing warehouse infrastructure.
Safety Architecture Reduces Barrier Needs
The core innovation of the Digit 5 is its safety architecture, which allows it to operate near people without the extensive fencing typical of traditional robotic automation. The robot has passed independent field evaluations for industrial safety standards administered by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration. This certification is significant because it validates the robot's ability to navigate dynamic environments where humans and machines share the same space.
To support these safety features, Agility has partnered with NVIDIA to integrate its systems with the Halos for Robotics platform. This partnership pairs Agility's hardware with NVIDIA's IGX Thor and Halos Core infrastructure. The goal is to create a robust safety framework that can scale across different factory and warehouse settings, moving beyond pilot programs to full industrial deployment.
Expanding Capabilities Beyond Material Handling
While the previous version of the robot focused primarily on moving totes, the Digit 5 is engineered to cover a facility's full workflow. It can perform tasks such as depalletizing goods upon arrival, tending to machines, and conducting quality inspections. The robot uses proprietary physical AI training to acquire these manipulation skills, allowing it to replace specialized solutions at every stage of the process.
The system is designed to coordinate with existing automated guided vehicles, conveyors, and warehouse management systems. This integration ensures that material continues to move efficiently between stations without human intervention. The company claims this approach removes constraints on scale, enabling a single robot to manage diverse tasks that previously required multiple specialized machines or workers.
Shaping International Robotics Safety Standards
Beyond its own product development, Agility is actively involved in shaping the regulatory landscape for humanoid robots. The company serves as a project leader for a technical report under the American National Standards Institute regarding dynamically stable industrial mobile robots. It is also a contributor to the International Organization for Standardization's first international safety standard for the humanoid category.
According to GN auto tech/robotics, these efforts are critical for establishing clear guidelines for safe operation. By participating in these standards bodies, Agility aims to ensure that its safety architecture aligns with emerging regulatory expectations in the U.S. and Canada. This proactive approach is intended to facilitate smoother adoption by manufacturers and logistics companies who are wary of undefined safety risks.
