There was nothing else like Digit on the ProMat floor last year. Manufacturing supply chain events have gradually transformed into technology shows in recent years. Many of the biggest names in the space were in attendance, showcasing autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), bin picking arms, and automated storage and retrieval systems. But all anyone could talk about was Agility's small army of bipedal robots.
A year later, the conversation has changed. The concept of humanoid robots working in factories is no longer a distant dream. Certainly, last week's $675 million raise by competitor Figure has validation. Interest in humanoid robots is at an all-time high, and wealthy investors no longer consider it a pipe dream.
A video taken at last March's event went viral online, exposing Agility's robot to its largest audience yet. The demo showed a highly complex and technically advanced bot repeating the same dull motion over and over again, in this case moving a package back and forth between a wall and a conveyor belt, something basic in the field of industrial robotics. I caught it. According to Agility co-founder Damion Shelton, it was here that his CEO at the time began considering succession planning.
“When we went through ProMat last year, we just thought, 'Okay, this company is a lot different than when we started,'” Shelton told TechCrunch. “This was really the first time we had publicly shown a robot doing a job, but frankly it was also the first time we had shown a humanoid robot. [robots] I'm working. That was really the trigger. We started the search process in August last year. ”
Two months before the event, Agility brought on Apple/iPad veteran Aindrea Campbell as COO to handle the company's rapidly expanding manufacturing plans. Four months later, Shelton co-founder Jonathan Hurst stepped down from his role as CTO and transitioned into the more research-focused role of chief robotics officer. Melonie Wise, who most recently worked at Zebra, replaced Hurst after the logistics company acquired Zebra's AMR startup Fetch.
Toronto, Canada – May 21, 2019; Peggy Johnson, Microsoft Executive Vice President of Business Development, takes center stage during day one of Collision 2019 at the Enercare Center in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile, Getty Images)
This week, Agility named Microsoft veteran Peggy Johnson as its second CEO. This will likely make the company unique among its peers in having female executives in three executive roles. Unlike Wise, Johnson does not have the robotics experience of her predecessor. However, she has a long track record in the world of technology. Her career began at mobile chip giant Qualcomm, where she would eventually spend a quarter century.
She then spent six years at Microsoft, where she helped lead the HoloLens team and used that work to become CEO of Magic Leap. There she spent three years pivoting a well-funded but struggling augmented reality company from consumer gaming to enterprise applications. As of this writing, it is still an open question whether that particular effort will be successful.
Following yesterday's announcement, Mr. Johnson joined Mr. Shelton and me on the call. She had completed the Tokyo Marathon the day before and we were able to find a little time to fit in all three time zones. Johnson reflected on the similarities and differences between Agility and his previous work.
“It's a very exciting product and technology because of how similar it is, and there's a need and a demand for it,” she explained. “The difference is that Agility fits the product market. That's what really fascinated me. Today, at this point, Digit can deliver ROI to their customers. They're not trying to boil the ocean. They are just focused on a small number of use cases where Digit can provide value.”
Perhaps the biggest difference between Agility and the growing humanoid robot startups is that it has a much head start. The company was founded in 2015 as a spinoff of Hurst's research in legged robotics at Oregon State University. Digit was unveiled to the public at his CES four years later as part of a partnership with Ford. At the time, Agility believed that last-mile delivery was the most logical market fit. However, the deal fell through as the company pivoted to the burgeoning world of warehouse automation.
Image credit: Mark Reinertson/The Photo Group / Flickr (Opens in new window), under CC BY 2.0 (Opens in new window) license.
The Oregon-based company currently employs more than 200 people. The company has not yet disclosed how many Digits it has shipped, only saying it has built about 60 units of previous versions.
In our conversation, Shelton mentioned Digit's ability to traverse rough terrain, adding, “At some point, we'd like to get back to something like last-mile delivery.” But for now, warehouse work will be the main focus for robots. Specifically, the robot can move totes of different shapes and sizes around the floor. This is exactly how the robot was introduced during some of his Amazon pilots announced last year.
“It went really well,” Shelton said. “We are excited to continue with them as a partner, but there have been no major updates since last fall's event.
After his first conversation with Shelton a little more than a month ago, Johnson said Digit's ability to get the job done today was a big factor in his decision to lead the company. “When I look at Agility from the outside, I like that they focus on the here and now,” she explained. “What can robots do today to deliver value? Obviously we have a future roadmap of capabilities that incorporate elements of AI, capabilities that incorporate hardware elements, and capabilities that incorporate software elements, but right now They are relevant in that they provide value in [Shelton] “No one else is really doing what Agility is doing for customers today.”
The reference to AI was, in part, a reference to the company's recently announced efforts to use LLM to help Digit adapt to the ever-changing real world at hand. Interest in this category is undoubtedly a major driver of investor interest in the potential impact on how robots learn and interact with the world.
Although Agility is not explicitly considering an increase at this time, the company says the possibility is always on the table. “The data points are there,” Johnson says of Figure's recent astonishing $2.6 billion valuation. “All boats are up with headlines like that and we’re definitely going to capitalize on that.”
Shelton was quick to point out that Agility's last valuation was determined in a funding round about three years ago.