Topics
late
AI
Amazon
Image Credits:Brian Heater
Apps
Biotech & Health
clime
Image Credits:Brian Heater
Cloud Computing
Commerce Department
Crypto
Image Credits:Brian Heater
enterprisingness
EVs
Fintech
Fundraising
gismo
punt
Government & Policy
computer hardware
Layoffs
Media & Entertainment
Meta
Microsoft
Privacy
Robotics
security measure
Social
Space
inauguration
TikTok
Transportation
Venture
More from TechCrunch
Events
Startup Battlefield
StrictlyVC
Podcasts
video
Partner Content
TechCrunch Brand Studio
Crunchboard
Contact Us
Humanoid robots are all the rage, but Agility’s Digit was a singular presence at this year’s Modex conference
Perhaps a few years from now , the halls of the Georgia World Congress Center will be pepper with humanoid robot the week of Modex . In 2024 , however , Digit stands alone at the supply chemical chain show . It ’s a testament to Agility ’s healthy head start up over contender like Figure , Tesla , 1X and Apptronik . This time last year at Modex ( the Chicago version of the conference ) , Digit had something of an industrial automation coming out party . A line of work of the bipedal automaton were moving totes to a nearby conveyor rap at select times throughout the workweek .
This week in Atlanta , a go around roll of eight Digits are working each mean solar day from show opening to shut . This time , however , the blue-blooded and silver automaton are doing something a act different . The demonstration showcase lineside replenishment and lug recovery with a flow single-foot designed for self-propelled manufacture . Agility severalize TechCrunch that it is currently working with self-propelling customers — though it has yet to liberate any names .
splendidly , Ford was among Agility ’s first advocate , foretell a partnership right smart back at CES 2020 . finally , design to put Digit to process making last - mile delivery peter out , as the company or else pivoted focus to the approximate - term issue of storage warehouse staff . That shew to be a cagy move , as labor figure still have yet to return post - COVID . Former Agility CEO Damion Shelton told me last week that last - mi is still on the board , but there ’s more than enough to focus on in the warehouse and fabrication sectors to keep the company engage .
Putting together a C - suite has been an authoritative firearm of the company ’s growth over the past 12 month . atomic number 27 - laminitis Shelton and Jonathan Hurst have pitch roles , from CEO and CTO to chairwoman and primary robotics ship’s officer , severally . A workweek ago today , former Magic LeapCEO Peggy Johnson take on the chief executive roleover from Shelton . Last year , the company named Fetch founder and CEO Melonee Wise to the CTO purpose and bring former Apple and Ford executive Aindrea Campbell in as COO .
Agility Robotics ’ newfangled CEO is ‘ focused on the here and now ’
The leadership change point to a company fill commercialisation more seriously . They also put Agility in rarified air among top robotics company , with women in five of its nine C - retinue roles .
Join us at TechCrunch Sessions: AI
Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI
Agility is storm up production volumes , with plans to hit “ high double - digit ” output of its bipedal robot by end of year . This week at Modex , the companionship took the wrapper off Agility Arc , deployment and fleet management software for Digit .
“ The automation platform has all of the matter you would expect from a fleet direction system , in terminal figure of battery , saddle management , workflow management and robot tasking , ” Wise recite TechCrunch . “ But it also has the other view that you need for deploy and configure a system and remotely monitor and support the system . It ’s a single dose of drinking glass that allow you to basically do everything related to get by a fleet of Digits . ”
Johnson , who previously helm Magic Leap ’s shaky pivot into endeavor , say the newfangled enterprise software gave her confidence that her raw company has surer footing than her last .
“ The thing that was really supporting when I learned about the new cloud automation system is that it ’s such a sign of the ontogenesis of the ship’s company , ” she says . “ This is not just a twist , it ’s something that ’s meant to mix . So often at [ Johnson ’s former employer ] Microsoft , that would be the tripper - up point . You would have some isolated scheme over here that was n’t integrated with everything else and did n’t provide the value that it could . So , the fact that it will be able to integrate with WMS system and other thing the company is already using is a big system of weights off them . ”
For Johnson , Modex has been a monumental learning experience . She spoke to us last week from Japan , where she had latterly competed in the Tokyo marathon . She hopped on a plane back to the States over the weekend specifically to get a first - mitt view of the supply chain / logistics world of which she is now a part . “ I want to make certain I was here to see not only the customers , but the surroundings the devices work in . I ’m snuff it to spend a lot of time walk around today and soak up myself in that . ”
Johnson ’s elemental rake as chief operating officer is a quick route to ROI . That ’s achievable in no small part to the fact that Digit is usable through a RaaS ( robotics - as - a - religious service ) manakin , which has become an increasingly pop room to convince companies to take the bound . client can now pilot these systems without having to vex about monumental upfront costs .
It ’s those customers who finally shape Digit ’s hereafter . The model on the floor demonstrating an automotive workflow has a new pair of end effectors . Rather than the flipper - style appendages the party has been showcasing , this Digit has four fingerbreadth of its own on each hand , with two twosome of hooklike fingers facing in paired directions . This is n’t dexterous mobile manipulation , however . rather , it ’s plan to do the thing that Digit has been doing all along : delight tote .
The totes here are quite wide however ( as is tradition on the automotive line ) , prohibiting the golem from embrace it with an branch on each side . Instead the effector savvy the front of the totes . This method also yield a more unchanging grip on a box that often has heavy , untethered physical object rolling around in spite of appearance .
In the not too distant future , Wise visualise a translation of Digit that can swap out its end effectors as needed .
“ When you look at the end effecter specifically , there ’s about 60 days of prior art , ” she enounce . “ All of [ Modex ] , if you face around , all of these robot arms have different oddment effectors . That ’s a very well read thing . There ’s something called ‘ oddment of arm tooling . ’ It ’s swappable . What we ’re going to be ride toward as a mathematical product is have swappable terminal of arm tooling and eventually make that an automated process . ”
With what could be perceived as a gibe at some of the mechanical man robot competition , Shelton mention , “ but interestingly , 0 % of the solutions are five - fingered , 27 - degrees of exemption hands . ” He add together , “ there have been some of our competition who have been on the book enounce that they are using a five - fingered hand basically as a branding exercise . ”
As far as what the competition should be concentrate on , Wise believes Agility ’s peers should center on safety — a vast concern when precede new technologies into a warehouse set up . “ We need to , collectively as an manufacture , get our safety tarradiddle straight , ” she says . “ We as an industry take to come together and resolve what the safety norm are . ”
Johnson adds that companies demand to focalise on the task at hand . “ Stay focused on the here and now and what can be done , ” she says . “ Everyone needs a roadmap , but stick around focussed and establish it out . ”
