Agility Robotics has given its humanoid robot a simple instruction for crowded workplaces: see people, signal what you intend to do, and get out of the way. On September 15, 2026, the Salem, Oregon company unveiled Digit 5, a new industrial robot designed to operate close to human workers without the physical safety barriers commonly used around automated equipment.
Digit 5 uses proprietary artificial intelligence algorithms and multiple sensor technologies to monitor its surroundings for people. When it detects someone, the company says the robot can autonomously move away, stop or assume a seated position. An independent safety controller oversees its response when a person is detected within an unsafe distance.
The system is intended for manufacturing, warehousing and logistics sites, where robots often work around people rather than in fully separated areas. Digit 5 also uses visual and auditory signals to indicate its planned movement and alert people nearby. Agility says this approach reduces reliance on physical safety infrastructure that can make human-robot collaboration more difficult and costly to deploy.
The launch builds on more than 65,000 hours of operational experience from commercial deployments of earlier Digit models. Digit 4 has logged more than 65,000 hours of operational time at customer sites including GXO, Schaeffler, Amazon and Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada.
Agility said that, as of May 2026, it had more than $300 million in multi-year customer orders for Digit 5. Those orders remain subject to the satisfaction of certain contractual milestones. The company did not disclose the identities of Digit 5 customers, their order quantities, the milestones involved or the robot's price.
Digit 5 can repeatedly lift loads of up to 50 lb. (22.7 kg), giving it 40% more payload capacity than previous versions, according to Agility. The robot weighs 284 pounds, stands 5 feet 11 inches tall and can reach heights of up to 7.2 feet. Its new leg design uses Agility's proprietary cycloidal actuator technology, while swappable grippers use ISO-standard mounting flanges.
A new battery system is designed to provide 90 minutes of runtime and to recharge in 9 minutes. Agility says that cycle can support more than 20 hours of productive work during a 24-hour day, a figure that points to a model in which robots rotate through charging rather than sit idle for long periods.
The company is also the first launch partner for NVIDIA's Halos for Robotics platform. Agility provided no further details in the announcement about how that platform will be used in Digit 5.
Safety remains central to the sales argument. Digit was the first humanoid to pass an independent field evaluation on a customer production line for industrial safety standards administered by OSHA, according to Agility. The company is a project leader and active contributor to the American National Standards Institute's ANSI/A3 TR R15.108 for dynamically stable industrial mobile robots, and to the International Organization for Standardization's ISO 25785-1, described as the first international safety standard for humanoid robots.
Digit 5 will be assembled at RoboFab, Agility's 70,000-square-foot facility in Salem, Oregon. The plant was designed to produce up to 10,000 robots per year at full capacity. Agility expects early access to Digit 5 to begin in the first half of 2027, followed by general availability for manufacturing, warehouse and distribution operators by the end of 2027.
The company also plans to make Digit 5 available for commercial deployment in the European Union and United Kingdom for the first time.
Peggy Johnson, Agility Robotics' chief executive, now has a substantial order book behind a robot that must prove itself in the less forgiving setting of working industrial sites. The company has set out the specifications and the safety architecture. Its customers will determine whether a humanoid that can stop, sit down or step aside becomes a practical fixture beside their workforce.
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