GXO signs multi-year agreement for use of humanoid robots from Agility Robotics

GXO Logistics, Inc., a leading contract logistics provider, and Agility Robotics, creator of the bipedal Mobile Manipulation Robot (MMR) Digit, have signed a multi-year agreement to begin deploying Digit in GXO’s logistics operations. The agreement, which follows a proof-of-concept pilot in late 2023 at a GXO site near Atlanta that provides fulfillment services for women's apparel brand SPANX, is both the industry’s first formal commercial deployment of humanoid robots and first Robots-as-a-Service (RaaS) deployment of humanoid robots, according to Agility Robotics.

“We’re building on the success of last year’s groundbreaking pilot with Agility by deploying fully operational Digit humanoids into a live warehouse environment,” said Adrian Stoch, Chief Automation Officer, GXO. “Our R&D approach is to partner with developers all over the world to help them build and validate practical use cases that improve the working environment for our employees while optimizing operations for our customers. Agility shares this philosophy, and Digit is the perfect addition to work alongside our people in our fulfillment center. We’re delighted to progress our partnership through this critical milestone.”

As part of the RaaS agreement, GXO is deploying Digit robots and Agility Arc, Agility’s cloud automation platform for deploying and managing Digit fleets. Digit is a multi-purpose, bipdal robot for logistics work, designed to work safely in human spaces and help with a variety of repetitive tasks.

In the SPANX facility, Agility’s solutions integrate with existing automation, including autonomous mobile robots (AMRs). Expanding on last year’s pilot, a "small fleet" of Digit robots already are assisting with repetitive tasks such as moving totes from cobots and placing them onto conveyors, all orchestrated through Agility Arc, Agility Robotics explained. Under the RaaS agreement, the companies will continue to explore additional use cases and scale Digit usage to meet demand throughout the deployment. The current number of Digits in the fleet was not specified, but there is video of the robots in action at the GXO facility near Atlanta, viewable here.

“There will be many firsts in the humanoid robot market in the years to come, but I’m extremely proud of the fact that Agility is the first with actual humanoid robots deployed at a customer site, generating revenue, and solving real-world business problems,” said Peggy Johnson, CEO,
Agility Robotics. “Agility has always been focused on the only metric that matters - delivering value to our customers by putting Digit to work - and this milestone deployment raises the bar for the entire industry.”