At today's Delivering the Future event, Amazon announced it will begin testing Agility's bipedal robot Digit in its facilities. Tye Brady, chief technologist at Amazon Robotics, said testing is in the "very, very early stages," adding: "We're doing a lot of things to understand it better and see if it fits into our process."
Reading between the lines, there is no guarantee that Amazon will actually start deploying Digit in its warehouse facilities. Amazon already uses more than 750,000 robotic systems.
This exploration is not surprising. Last April, the retail giant announced a $1 billion "industrial innovation" fund. Agility is one of five companies to receive investment in the first round. The list also includes MantisRobotics, Modjoul and Vimaan.
Amazon has long insisted that its investments in these companies are not meant for broader integration with these technologies, but the company has often used such funds to explore partnerships and even acquisitions.
Agility is one of many startups building bipedal/humanoid robots for warehouse work. The theory goes that humans build workplaces around themselves, so why build robots that can work in those spaces? However, Agility is far ahead of its competitors in R&D and production.
"Digit moves, grabs, and handles items in warehouse spaces and corners in novel ways," Amazon writes. "It's the perfect size and shape for a building designed for humans, and we believe there's a lot of potential for mobile robotic solutions like Digit that can work alongside employees. Our initial use for this technology will be to help employees with tote recycling, a highly repetitive process of picking up and moving empty totes after inventory has been completely picked out."
In September, the company announced it would build a new Robohub factory in Salem, Oregon, to significantly increase production.
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