Agility Robotics has opened a 60,000-square-foot facility in Fremont, California, to train its humanoid robot Digit in tasks relevant to warehouses and manufacturing. The new site sits up the highway from the factory where Tesla is expected to begin producing its Optimus robots later this year.
Purpose of the facility
The center is intended to accelerate Digit’s ability to learn skills in environments that mirror real-world customer sites. CEO Peggy Johnson said the facility will help the company meet safety, regulatory and compliance requirements, integrate with customers’ IT infrastructure and plug into warehouse management systems. She also said more than 30 customers are in discussions about deploying Digit, and the new center will be where the six‑foot robot acquires new capabilities for field use.
Commercial traction and customers
Although Agility does not have Tesla’s financial resources, it already has a commercially deployed robot. Digit is being used to move totes and bins in manufacturing and logistics settings for customers including Amazon, GXO, Schaeffler and Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada. The company says it has secured $300 million in contract orders for its robots.
Agility has not disclosed the total number of Digits produced or deployed, but outside observers estimate that dozens have participated in pilot or revenue-generating deployments. The company has cited an example in which Digits moved 100,000 totes at a GXO logistics facility.
Public listing and market position
Johnson is leading Agility through a reverse merger that is expected to make the company the first pure‑play humanoid robot firm on public markets later this year. Founded in 2015 by researchers who developed methods for safe bipedal robot locomotion, Agility is trying to capitalize on its head start against a newer wave of AI‑inspired robotics startups such as Figure, 1X, the Bot Company and Sunday Robotics.
AI, safety and autonomy
Agility’s approach emphasizes practical autonomy and separation of safety-critical systems from generative AI. Co‑founder and chairman Damion Shelton told TechCrunch that safety functions should not be placed under generative AI control: “The analog with humanoids is all the safety stuff needs to go through a path that’s not generative AI.”
At the same time, Agility sees generative AI as a way to scale application development. Shelton noted that the number of tasks one can imagine for a robot far exceeds the number of engineers available to program them, and generative AI helps close that gap. Bruce Leak, a QuickTime inventor who serves on Agility’s board, questioned how the company would code robot applications, and generative AI emerged as part of the answer.
Product roadmap and use cases
Unlike many newer entrants to the humanoid market, Agility is not aiming for consumer in‑home robots in the near term. Digit currently operates in human‑free areas, but the company says the version 5 robot, expected to be unveiled this fall, will be able to sense humans and therefore won’t need to be confined to robot‑only zones.
Co‑founder and chief robot officer Jonathan Hurst highlighted the immediate commercial opportunities in manufacturing and logistics: starting with moving bins and totes, then picking and kitting, followed by more difficult tasks such as handling cardboard and loading and unloading tractor‑trailers.
Why it matters
The Fremont training center underscores Agility Robotics’ focus on practical, revenue‑driven deployments and on scaling robot capabilities for real industrial customers. Its proximity to the anticipated Tesla Optimus production site reflects an increasing concentration of humanoid robotics activity in the region, while Agility continues to push forward with deployed systems, customer contracts and a path to a public listing.
Author’s note: quotes and figures are drawn from the company statements and the reporting cited in the original article.
