Factory to beat out Tesla by making 10,000 humanoid robots a year

19 September 2023 , 04:47

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A team puts together 'Digit' - a new robot that you'll get to see a lot more of as the parent company has announced their factory will roll out 10,000 of these a year (Image: Agility Robotics)

A company in Oregon announced today that they'll be the lead producers of the robotic takeover - of manual labour in factories, at least.

Agility Robotics will be opening a large factory in Salem, Oregon, that promises to produce 10,000 high-tech robots a year. The model they're working on is called 'Digit,' which was designed to function as a “robotic co-worker” that uses arms and legs to move around warehouses and factories. It can even traverse steps or crouch into small spaces.

The 70,000-square-foot facility will be called the “RoboFab” and is the first of its kind, according to Damion Shelton, co-founder and CEO of Agility Robotics. “The opening of our factory marks a pivotal moment in the history of robotics: the beginning of the mass production of commercial humanoid robots,” said Shelton.

Introducing Agility Robotics humanoid robot, Digit (Agility Robotics)

“We built Digit to solve difficult problems in today’s workforce, like injuries, burnout, high turnover and unfillable labour gaps, with the ultimate vision of enabling humans to be more human. When you’re building new technology to make society better, the most important milestone is when you’re able to mass produce that technology at a scale where it can have a real, widespread impact,” continued Shelton in a statement.

COO Aindrea Campbell, who was formerly Apple’s senior director of iPad operations and an engineering manager at Ford, told CNBC proudly that it will employ 'less than 500 people.' But currently, they're still rolling out test lines.

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Footage of the test factory lines that will make a robot that can do factory work, created by Agility Robotics (Agility Robotics)

“It’s a really big endeavour, not something where you flick a switch and suddenly turn it on,” Campbell said. “There’s kind of a ramp-up process. The inflexion point today is that we’re opening the factory, installing the production lines and starting to grow capacity and scale with something that’s never been done before.”

Tesla, who announced that they'll be building a similar type of robot, which they call 'Optimus,' back in 2021, finally released a video last May showing a demo of their product. But they have yet to announce any solid plans to operate a facility of this magnitude.

'Digit,' the new high-tech robot, has two legs, two arms, and can load and unload products while staying balanced, amongst a number of rare features (Agility Robotics)

Shelton told CNBC that his team developed Digit with a 'human form factor' so that the robots can traverse stairs, crouch into tight spaces, unload containers and move materials onto or off of a pallet or a conveyor, then help to sort and divide material onto other pallets, according to Agility. These are new features that have previously limited robotics. Digit will use rechargeable lithium batteries. Its 'hands' are shaped like little claws.

“Human-style hands are very complex,” Shelton said. “When I see robots that have five fingers, I think, ‘Oh, great. Someone built a robot, then they built two more robots onto that robot.’ You should have a ‘hand’ that is no more complex than you need for the job.”

When Shelton was asked if he thinks these types of robots will 'steal jobs' from humans, he told media he "envisions Digit allowing manufacturing and logistics businesses to meet rising demand as recruiting remains a challenge and as many workers retire or opt to leave the industry."

Yelena Mandenberg