A small number of humanoid robots have made their way into industrial settings, where they’re roughly matching the cost of human labor and propelling some workers into higher-level roles.
What’s new: Agility Robotics, based in Oregon, is supplying humanoid robots to Schaeffler, a German maker of automotive parts in the first operational deployments of humanoid robots, The Wall Street Journal reported. Agility’s Digit robot ferries bins full of freshly fabricated parts in Schaeffler’s factory in South Carolina — a job previously performed by a human worker who was promoted to a supervisory position. Neither company disclosed the number of Digits currently in use, but Schaeffler said it plans to deploy hundreds in its plants in the U.S. and Europe by 2030.
How it works: At the Schaeffler factory, Digit carries 25-pound baskets from a stamping press to a conveyor belt, a traverse that takes about 1 minute to complete. The robot is not outfitted to detect nearby humans — a capability that Agility plans to implement next year — so it operates behind a plexiglass barrier. It works for two four-hour shifts with a break in between to recharge. The company has revealed few details about its technology including its processing hardware and AI models, datasets, or training methods.
- Digit is built to human scale (5’ 9”, 143 pounds) and has legs with inverted knees for lifting; arms designed for lifting parcels and maintaining balance; four-fingered grippers; a torso that houses processing, batteries, and sensors; and LED “eyes” that it directs toward its current focus. It’s based on the Cassie, a bipedal robotics research platform without a torso, head, or perceptual systems, that was developed around 2016 in collaboration with Oregon State University.
- The robot’s sensors can include RGB depth cameras, LiDAR, a motion-sensing inertial measurement unit (IMU), and unspecified encoders that measure the position and velocity of its joints.
- Walking control is dynamic to manage uneven terrain, recover from disturbances, and climb stairs and inclines.
- Agility engineers map work environments ahead of deployment and configure specific tasks on-site. Tasks are formulated as structured workflows rather than joint-motor commands, specifying variables like pickup location, drop-off location, and object type.
- Agility did not disclose Digits’ price but said each robot costs $10 to $25 per hour, while an entry-level job at the Schaeffler factory pays $20 per hour.
Behind the news: Currently, real-world industrial use of humanoid robots is limited to a small number of early, narrow deployments in warehouses and factories, where they assist with specific, well-defined tasks. Most other humanoid systems in industry remain in pilot or trial phases. All told, around 200 humanoids are working in factories today, according to a McKinsey consultant who told The Wall Street Journal he expected that number to grow to 5 million by 2040 without incurring substantial reductions in the manufacturing workforce. Generally, research suggests that robots displace humans in specific tasks, driving a restructuring of jobs and upgrading of the remaining roles. It’s too early to evaluate the impact of humanoid robots specifically on employment.
Why it matters: Humanoid robots have become widely available only in the past few years, thanks to improvements in batteries, motors, and AI. Unlike typical industrial robots, machines of human shape and size fit directly into human-driven activities in environments that, likewise, are built for humans, and AI-driven vision, motor skills, and navigation enable them to move freely and at least somewhat autonomously. Schaeffler’s use of Digits in South Carolina — a step beyond pilot programs such as tests of Agility robots at Amazon and GXO Logistics and BMW’s trial of Figure’s humanoids — indicates that they are capable of economically useful work and may well take on labor currently performed by humans.
We’re thinking: If robotics research is an indication, lots of headroom remains to make humanoid robots more autonomous, interactive, and generally capable.