Until now, Agility Robotics’ humanoid robots have largely worked behind safety barriers in warehouses and factories, an awkward limitation for machines designed to work in spaces built for people.
The company says Digit 5, its next-generation humanoid unveiled Tuesday, is designed to change that.
The teal-blue robot can detect people nearby and slow down or stop when they get too close. If a person keeps approaching, Digit 5 can lower itself to the ground and shut off its motors before they reach it.
Business Insider got an early look at renderings of Digit 5 ahead of its unveiling. Agility cofounder and chief robot officer Jonathan Hurst said the redesign reflects lessons the company learned from deploying earlier versions with customers, including Amazon, Toyota, and logistics company GXO.
“Digit 5 is the first machine that is the full, formal product that has come from customer requirements and solves a couple of the major, absolute blockers that we didn’t really know about until we actually engaged,” Hurst told Business Insider.
Digit 5 arrives as Agility tries to prove that its early lead in humanoids can become a real business. The company says it has Digit robots deployed across nine customer facilities in North America. But better-funded rivals, including Figure AI and Tesla, are racing to put their own robots to work.
Agility says it has more than $300 million in multiyear orders for Digit 5, even as the business remains unprofitable. It generated $1.8 million in net sales in 2025 and reported a $140 million operating loss, according to a securities filing last week.
Agility is led by Peggy Johnson, the former CEO of Magic Leap and a longtime executive at Microsoft and Qualcomm. The company plans to become the first US humanoid maker to go public through a SPAC deal valuing it at about $2.5 billion, even as the case for humanoid robots remains hotly debated.
What does Digit 5 cost?
Agility’s securities filing also offered a glimpse into Digit’s economics. In one model, Agility assumed a customer would pay about $200,000 for a Digit 5, plus about a $20,000 deployment fee and $36,000 a year for software and maintenance. Over five years, that would total about $400,000 per robot.
Agility said that the figures were illustrative and that actual customer contracts would be negotiated individually.
Few humanoid makers disclose pricing. Figure AI has not said what its robot will cost. Elon Musk has said Tesla’s Optimus could eventually cost about $20,000 to $25,000 to produce, while China’s Unitree Robotics, which went public last month, advertises its smaller G1 humanoid starting at $13,500.
Hurst said Agility does not plan to ramp up production simply to boost its robot count, contrasting its approach with that of “a lot of Chinese competitors.”
Digit 5 gets stronger
Digit 5 is built to do heavier work than its predecessor.
Its signature backward-bending knees are gone, replaced with a more human-like design that Hurst said gives the robot more strength for lifting and squatting.
“We don’t need to run a marathon with this robot,” Hurst said. “We need to lift heavy things.”
Digit 5 can lift up to 50 pounds, about 40% more than the previous version, and squat lower to pick up objects. When its battery runs low, it can walk to a charging dock and connect to it via a port on its back. Agility says it can recharge in about nine minutes after roughly 90 minutes of work, allowing it to operate for more than 20 hours a day.
Its hands can also be swapped out for different jobs. One claw-like gripper is designed to move heavy bins, while future attachments could handle tasks requiring greater dexterity. Hurst said Agility is developing its own grippers while also watching new designs coming to market. “We expect a library of manipulators for the robot,” he said.
Digit 5 is expected to become available in North America in the first half of 2027, followed by the European Union and the United Kingdom later that year.
Have a tip? Contact Rya Jetha via email at [email protected] or Signal at rjetha.07. Use a personal email address and a nonwork device; here’s our guide to sharing information securely.
Read the original article on Business Insider
The post Agility’s new humanoid is supposed to stop before it gets too close to humans appeared first on Business Insider.
