Agility doesn’t have Digit 5 deployed in factories yet, but the hardware is real, as these pictures show.
Despite the recent deluge of videos ofhumanoid robotsdoing backflips and kung fu, the actual pace of progress towards humanoids that can do economically viable jobs at scale has at times seemed a bit plodding. There aresome good reasons for this: A humanoid robot needs to be powerful enough to do useful work, safe enough for humans to walk past, and have enough battery life to limit how much of the day it’s hooked to a charger. But all three of t…
With its new Digit 5 robot, announced today,Agility Roboticsmay have found the sweet spot. Digit 5 is a humanoid worker that can lift 23 kilograms up 2.1 meters, can work in close proximity to people without relying on physical barriers, and can operate for more than 20 hours a day. This combination of power, safety, and battery life has resulted in a 1.8-meter tall, 129-kg robot that prioritizes functionality over style and pretty much everythin…
Humanoid robot companies have been reluctant to talk about safety, because there are no easy answers to “What happens if your fundamentally unstable bipedal robot falls over onto me/my pet/my baby?” And there are still no easy answers, but Agility does haveananswer that allows Digit to be verifiably safe. That answer is to make sure that it’s physically impossible for Digit to fall over on anyone, ever, by “autonomously avoiding, stopping, or ass…
The other big change is Digit’s legs. Somewhat famously, AgilityRoboticsfirst introducedCassieand then a whole series of Digit robots featuring bird-like ‘backwards’ legs. Inhis 2019 article for IEEE Spectrum, Agility co-founder Jonathan Hurst explained that this leg configuration was the result of a careful analysis of the physics of animallocomotion, rather than for the leg to look like any sort of animal in particular. The unfortunate reality …
We also know a couple of things about Digit 5 that weren’t included in today’s announcement, thanks to Agility’s JuneSEC filingin advance of theirplan to go public by the end of 2026. For example, at launch,Digit 5’s BOM (bill of materials) costis likely to be somewhere between US $150,000 and $200,000. This is just the cost of the parts that make up a Digit robot, not what it costs for Agility to actually build one. Based on real production data…
In this rendering, Digit 5 robots work in a factory with humans nearby, no safety barriers needed. When a human approaches, the robot puts down what it’s carrying and squats down so it can’t fall on anybody.Agility
Arguably less important than the per-robot cost is how Agility (and its customers) will profit from Digit 5. In the filing,Agility estimates(using “rounded estimates” which are “purely illustrative”) that Digit 5 robots will be offered to customers as a service at something like $8,500 per month. Based on 20 hours per day of work, and assuming that the total cost of a human worker to their employer is $30.50 per hour, Digit 5 as a service could s…
It’s important to note that all of these numbers are just estimates, and that all kinds of things (many of them not under Agility’s control) could cause them to change. They’re most useful as an illustration of Agility’s broad approach to making Digit 5 profitable. It’s also important to note the assumption here with such a direct comparison is that Digit 5 will be a more or less effortless drop-in replacement for human labor, which is not someth…
Where does Digit 5 go from here? Today’s press release says that “as of May 2026, Agility had more than $300 million in multi-year customer orders for Digit 5, with a sales pipeline of prospective customers across manufacturing, warehousing, and logistics.” That works out to comfortably under 1,000 robots, one-tenth of the full capacity ofAgility’s RoboFab factoryin Oregon.
Between now and all those robots, however, lies an unpredictable entry into the stock market through what’s called aSPAC (special purpose acquisition company) merger. That’s expected to close within the next few months. Agility hopes to raise more than $620 million through the merger, and it will primarily spend the money to scale production of Digit 5 and get it to customers. Those in theEuropean UnionandUnited Kingdomshould be able to buy the b…
Evan Ackermanis a senior editor atIEEE Spectrum. Since 2007, he has written over 6,000 articles on robotics and technology. He has a degree in Martian geology and is excellent at playing bagpipes.