Digit 5 Sets a New Bar for Humanoid Robot Safety
With its new Digit 5 robot, announced today, Agility Robotics may have found the sweet spot. Digit 5 is a humanoid worker that can lift 23 kilograms up 2.1 meters, can work in close proximity to people without relying on physical barriers, and can operate f...
Key takeaways
- The most recent headlines show a surge of activity in the humanoid‑robot sector.
- On 15 September 2026, Agility Robotics announced Digit 5, its next‑generation humanoid with new legs, a 40 % higher payload, a 90‑minute fast‑charging battery and a safety architecture that lets it work beside people without physical barriers; the company says it already has more than $300 million in multi‑year orders and is scaling production at its Oregon “RoboFab” plant to deliver early units in the first half of 2027.
- That same day China opened the world’s first fully intelligent factory for humanoid robots in Liuzhou, Guangxi, designed to output 10 000 units a year—one robot every ten minutes—using a “smart brain” that coordinates automated assembly, testing and a compact multi‑level storage system.
- A few days earlier, Xpeng showcased its new IRON humanoid walking off the assembly line unaided, underscoring rapid progress toward mass production.
- In parallel, Unitree’s head of industrial solutions, Xie Yipeng, warned that humanoid robots will enter an accelerated development phase over the next two to three years, after resolving walking stability and expanding into commercial performances.
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With its new Digit 5 robot, announced today, Agility Robotics may have found the sweet spot. Digit 5 is a humanoid worker that can lift 23 kilograms up 2.1 meters, can work in close proximity to people without relying on physical barriers, and can operate for more than 20 hours a day. This combination of power, safety, and battery life has resulted in a 1.8 m tall, 129 kg robot that prioritizes functionality over style and pretty much everything else, but this is exactly what it’s going to take to get humanoids a job. Where does Digit 5 go from here? Today’s press release says that “as of May 2026, Agility had more than $300 million in multi-year customer orders for Digit 5, with a sales pipeline of prospective customers across manufacturing, warehousing, and logistics.” That works out to comfortably under 1,000 robots, one-tenth of the full capacity of Agility’s RoboFab factory in Oregon.
Between now and all those robots, however, lies an unpredictable entry into the stock market through what’s called a SPAC merger. That’s expected to close within the next few months. Agility hopes to raise more than $620 million through the merger, and it will primarily spend the money to scale production of Digit 5, and get it to customers. Those in the EU and the UK should be able to buy the bots in 2027.
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