Agility’s new humanoid robot will stop, squat to avoid harming human coworkers
Robots can start working outside physical cages and without safety barriers.
Robots can start working outside physical cages and without safety barriers.
The short version
- Agility Robotics has debuted its first humanoid robot engineered to work safely near humans without risking harm to flesh-and-blood coworkers.
- Such safety features could unlock many more opportunities to use such robots inside warehouses and automotive factories—all without requiring isolated robot work cells and physical separation barriers.
- When Agility’s new Digit 5 robot detects a person at a distance, it can autonomously take precautions, like moving to avoid the person or standing still so the person can pass by without getting closer.
What happened
If a person is getting into close proximity with Digit 5, the robot can even choose to squat and assume a seated position. “The robot was designed with a complex safe motion system that can take a variety of different mitigations depending on exactly what sort of human presence is detected,” Pras Velagapudi , chief technology officer at Agility, told Ars.
Why it matters
Customers can expect to gain early access to the Digit 5 within the first half of 2027, with the robot becoming generally available by the end of that year, according to Agility’s announcement today.
Summary by Nerd News Network. Read the full article at Ars Technica via the links above and below.