Taylor O'Bier
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LEARN MOREPosted: 5:30 p.m. EDT Sep 19, 2023
Humanoid robots are happening. Agility Robotics is finishing construction in Salem, Oregon on what they are calling the world’s first factory for this type of robot.
The 70,000-square-foot facility, called RoboFab, is set to open later this year and will employ over 500 people.
Agility Robotics said they expect to produce hundreds of their humanoid robots, named Digit, in their first year of operation, but they will eventually have the capability to create 10,000 robots per year.
Digit was designed with a human workflow in mind, since that is how most manufacturing facilities operate, the company said. The robots will be able to work alongside humans in factories and distribution centers.
The robots have two arms, two legs and claw-like hands. They can walk across a variety of terrains, crouch or squat, rotate their upper bodies, pick up and put down objects, step up and down and even balance themselves if they are bumped into.
“We built Digit to solve difficult problems in today’s workforce like injuries, burnout, high turnover and unfillable labor gaps, with the ultimate vision of enabling humans to be more human,” said Damion Shelton, Agility Robotics’ co-founder and CEO.
The company is not the only one creating these humanoid robots for this purpose. But, as CNBC pointed out, they’ve beat would-be competitors like Tesla to the punch.
