Agility says its humanoid can share warehouse space with workers without a physical safety cage; early access is planned for 2027.
Agility Robotics has announced Digit 5, a humanoid robot designed to work near people in warehouses and factories. It is an announced product, not yet a routine commercial deployment: Agility says customers may receive early access in the first half of 2027, with general availability planned by year-end.
The robot’s safety system is designed to select different responses based on the type of human presence it detects. Agility chief technology officer Pras Velagapudi told Ars Technica that Digit 5 can move to avoid a person or stand still while that person passes.
If someone comes into close proximity, the robot can squat into a seated position. Velagapudi described this as a “granular” approach to safety, rather than simply switching the robot off whenever a person appears.
Digit 5 uses artificial-intelligence software and multimodal onboard sensors to detect nearby people. Agility has not disclosed the exact sensor types, describing the array as several vision-based sensors.
That behavior could matter in places where workers and robots share aisles or handle pallets. Agility says the robot could pause while a worker changes a pallet, then resume instead of operating inside a fixed safety cage.
The company also says Digit 5 can repeatedly lift up to 50 pounds. Its battery is rated for 90 minutes and can recharge in nine minutes.
The safety behaviors remain company-attributed claims. Agility has not reported how reliably they work in real workplaces, so early customers will need operational testing before treating cage-free work as settled practice.