Agility Robotics
A privately held American robotics company developing bipedal humanoid robots for logistics, warehousing, and industrial automation.
Last updated October 19, 2026
AI crawler reads
No AI crawler has read this profile since Oct 28, 2026.
Overview
Agility Robotics is a privately held American humanoid robotics and engineering company whose best-known product is Digit, a full-size bipedal robot designed for work in logistics, warehousing, and other industrial environments. The company was established in 2015 as a spin-off from Oregon State University’s Dynamic Robotics Lab. Its technical origins lie in research into dynamic stability, balance, and human-like locomotion for bipedal robots. Jonathan Hurst, who created the Oregon State robotics lab, helped establish the scientific foundation for the company, alongside co-founders Damion Shelton and Mikhail Jones. Agility’s early platform was Cassie, a bipedal robot with legs but without the torso, arms, and perception systems later associated with Digit. Beginning in 2016, Cassie was offered as a research platform to academic laboratories and innovation groups. The platform supported work on bipedal locomotion and became known for demonstrating high-speed robotic running, including a Guinness World Record for the fastest 100-meter run by a bipedal robot. In 2017, Agility introduced Digit, a full-size humanoid robot equipped with a torso, arms, and a perception system. Early versions were sold to academic laboratories and research institutes. The company also supplied a later version of Digit to Ford Motor Company for an exploration of last-mile delivery involving autonomous vehicles. This work helped broaden the platform’s profile beyond laboratory research. Agility subsequently moved toward workplace automation. From 2021, the company emphasized bulk material handling and warehouse logistics, positioning Digit as a robot that could work in environments designed for people, including facilities with human-scale aisles, floors, shelving, and workflows. Digit’s bipedal form is intended to support movement through existing infrastructure rather than requiring a completely redesigned facility, although the practical economics and deployment requirements of this approach remain dependent on customer applications. The current generation of Digit was unveiled at the ProMat material-handling and logistics trade show in 2023. That year, Agility also announced plans for RoboFab, a humanoid-robot manufacturing facility in Salem, Oregon. The company has pursued enterprise relationships and Robot-as-a-Service models rather than relying solely on one-time hardware sales. In late 2023, it announced work with Amazon to explore Digit’s use in distribution and fulfillment facilities, followed by a relationship with GXO Logistics involving a Spanx facility near Atlanta, Georgia. In 2024, Agility and GXO announced a Robot-as-a-Service contract connected with the Digit deployment. Agility’s public positioning is therefore centered on practical, work-oriented humanoid robotics rather than consumer entertainment or household robotics. Its business scope includes robot hardware, locomotion and perception technologies, automation solutions, and commercial deployment arrangements. Public sources identify the company’s main products and partnerships but do not establish reliable figures for revenue, profitability, total production, customer count, or worldwide deployment. In March 2026, the company announced a rebrand as Agility; the relationship between that brand name and the legal corporate identity should be verified against current corporate records.
History
Agility Robotics was created in 2015 as a spin-off from Oregon State University’s Dynamic Robotics Lab. The lab, established by Jonathan Hurst, conducted research into dynamic stability and locomotion in bipedal robots. Its work sought to reproduce aspects of human-like walking and running, providing the technical basis for a company focused on robots that could move through environments designed for people. The spin-off brought with it Cassie, an early bipedal robot without an upper body or integrated perception system. Cassie was developed primarily as a research and development platform and began being sold to academic laboratories and innovation departments in 2016. It gave researchers a practical system for studying balance, walking, running, and control of bipedal machines. Cassie later achieved a Guinness World Record for a 100-meter run by a bipedal robot, increasing public attention around Agility’s locomotion technology. In 2017, Agility released Digit, a larger and more complete humanoid platform. Unlike Cassie, Digit included a torso, arms, and a perception system. Early Digit units were offered to academic and research institutions, where they could be used to investigate mobile manipulation, navigation, and other capabilities required for work in human-scale environments. A later version was sold to Ford Motor Company for an initiative examining last-mile delivery in combination with autonomous vehicles. The company’s emphasis shifted increasingly toward logistics and industrial automation. In 2021, Agility described Digit as a platform for bulk material handling and warehouse work. The company’s commercial thesis was that a bipedal robot could potentially use existing workplace layouts and processes, reducing the need to rebuild facilities around specialized automation. Digit’s intended duties have included moving and handling items in distribution and fulfillment settings, although the exact tasks and degree of autonomy depend on each deployment. A new generation of Digit was presented at ProMat in 2023. The event marked a more explicit commercial orientation toward material handling and logistics. Agility subsequently announced RoboFab, a humanoid robotics manufacturing facility in Salem, Oregon, as part of its effort to establish production capacity. The factory announcement was significant because the company’s strategy required a transition from individually developed research machines toward repeatable manufacturing and customer deployment. Agility also began announcing relationships with major logistics and technology users. In late 2023, it announced a partnership with Amazon to bring Digit to Amazon facilities for distribution and fulfillment work. It also announced a relationship with GXO Logistics involving Digit at a Spanx facility near Atlanta, Georgia. In 2024, Agility and GXO announced a Robot-as-a-Service contract associated with the deployment, illustrating a commercial model in which customers obtain robotic capability through an ongoing service arrangement rather than only purchasing equipment outright. The company remains focused on humanoid and bipedal robots for professional environments. Its public materials support a history spanning university-derived research, research-platform sales, industrial partnerships, manufacturing expansion, and service-based deployment. They do not provide enough verified information to state the company’s revenue, profitability, production volume, total workforce, or total number of deployed robots. In March 2026, Agility Robotics announced a rebrand as Agility. Further verification is required to determine whether this is only a market-facing brand change or also reflects a change in legal corporate identity.
- 2026
The company announces a rebrand as Agility
[2]Agility Robotics announces a public rebrand to Agility in a company blog post.
- 2024
The first announced humanoid Robot-as-a-Service contract with GXO
[1]Agility and GXO announce a Robot-as-a-Service contract connected to Digit’s work at the Spanx facility.
- 2023
A new generation of Digit is unveiled
[1]The current generation of Digit is presented at ProMat, a trade show focused on material handling and logistics.
- 2023
RoboFab is announced
[1]Agility announces its first humanoid-robot factory in Salem, Oregon, under the RoboFab name.
- 2023
Amazon and GXO relationships are announced
[1]Agility announces work involving Digit with Amazon distribution and fulfillment operations and with GXO at a Spanx facility near Atlanta.
- 2021
Digit’s focus expands toward warehouse logistics
[1]Agility develops Digit around bulk material-handling tasks and positions the robot for logistics and warehouse environments.
- 2017
Digit is introduced
[1]Agility releases Digit, a full-size humanoid robot with a torso, arms, and perception capabilities, initially targeting research institutions.
- 2016
Cassie begins serving as a research platform
[1]Cassie is made available to academic laboratories and innovation groups for research into bipedal walking, balance, and control.
- 2015
Agility Robotics is established as an Oregon State University spin-off
[1]The company is spun out of Oregon State University’s Dynamic Robotics Lab to commercialize research in bipedal locomotion and dynamic robot stability.
Products and positioning
A work-focused humanoid robotics developer serving logistics, warehousing, industrial automation, and research markets.
Bipedal robotics research platform · 2016
Cassie
Cassie is Agility Robotics’ early bipedal robot and a major research platform in the company’s development. It lacks the torso, arms, and perception system associated with Digit, allowing its design to concentrate on dynamic walking, balance, running, and lower-body control. Beginning in 2016, Cassie was sold to academic laboratories and innovation departments. Its record-setting 100-meter run demonstrated the locomotion capabilities that underpin Agility’s later work-oriented robots.
Humanoid logistics robot · 2017
Digit
Digit is a full-size bipedal humanoid robot designed for research, logistics, warehousing, and industrial material handling. It adds a torso, arms, and perception capabilities to the locomotion foundation represented by Cassie. Agility has developed Digit for work in human-scale facilities and has pursued deployments involving distribution, fulfillment, and warehouse workflows. Later generations have been positioned as commercial automation products, including through Robot-as-a-Service arrangements.
Humanoid-robot manufacturing facility · 2023
RoboFab
RoboFab is the name given to Agility Robotics’ announced humanoid-robot manufacturing facility in Salem, Oregon. It is not a robot product itself, but an important part of the company’s commercialization strategy. The facility is intended to support repeatable production of humanoid robots as Agility moves from research platforms and individual demonstrations toward enterprise deployments.
Marketing campaigns
- 2023Digit at ProMat
United States · Logistics · Warehousing · Material handling
Agility used the ProMat material-handling and logistics trade show to present the current generation of Digit and reinforce its commercial focus on warehouse and industrial tasks.
Outcome. The event served as a major public product introduction for the newer Digit platform.
Brand decisions
2024
Adoption of a Robot-as-a-Service arrangement with GXOStrategyBackground
Industrial customers may prefer acquiring robotic capability through an ongoing service model rather than purchasing and operating all hardware directly.
Action taken
Agility and GXO announced a Robot-as-a-Service contract connected to Digit’s work at a Spanx facility.
Aftermath
The agreement provided a publicly announced example of a recurring-service commercial model for humanoid robots.
2023
Launch of the current generation of DigitProduct launchBackground
Agility sought to move Digit from a research-oriented platform toward commercial logistics applications.
Action taken
The company unveiled a new generation of Digit at ProMat.
Aftermath
The launch was followed by manufacturing expansion plans and announcements involving Amazon and GXO.
2023
Announcement of the RoboFab manufacturing facilityStrategyBackground
Commercial humanoid-robot deployments require production capacity beyond individually built research machines.
Action taken
Agility announced a humanoid-robot factory in Salem, Oregon, named RoboFab.
Aftermath
The announcement signaled an effort to support scaled production and enterprise deployment of Digit.
2021
Shift Digit toward warehouse and logistics workStrategyBackground
After earlier research and delivery-oriented work, Agility increasingly targeted bulk material handling and industrial logistics.
Action taken
The company developed Digit for warehouse workflows and other professional environments built around human-scale infrastructure.
Aftermath
This became the central commercial direction for Digit and led to later relationships with Amazon and GXO.
Recent events
Agility Robotics announces audit committee chair for planned public-company board[3]
Reported:
Agility Robotics announced an audit committee chair for its planned public-company board.
Sources3 sources
Cite this profile: Cite the canonical profile. /brand-wiki/agility-robotics · Editorial policy · How profiles are compiled