GXO Logistics putting Digit humanoid to test

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You possibly can add the world’s largest pure-play contract logistics supplier to the rising checklist of corporations testing Agility Robotics’ Digit humanoid. GXO Logistics is conducting a proof-of-concept pilot with Digit at Spanx’s facility in Flowery Department, Ga.
Adrian Stoch, GXO‘s chief automation officer, advised The Robotic Report Spanx is one in all its prospects keen to check the bounds of innovation with robotics. And the worldwide womenswear model is doing simply that with Digit.
Within the pilot, Digit is shifting totes off of autonomous cellular robots (AMRs) and onto a conveyor. The AMRs, which seem like Chucks from 6 River Programs, carry the packed totes to a switch station. Digit then makes use of its notion system to detect the AMR has arrived. Digit then picks up a tote off the highest or backside shelf, carries it over and locations it onto the conveyor. Sooner or later, Agility mentioned Digit can even talk straight with the AMR fleet supervisor.
Now, this tote-moving activity appears just like how Amazon is testing Digit. Amazon’s preliminary use for Digit is to recycle empty totes. It takes totes off a stationary storage rack and carries them to a conveyor. Nevertheless, there are at the least a few vital variations to level out with Spanx.
First, the totes are full of merchandise. When requested how a lot a mean tote full of Spanx merchandise weighs, Agility Robotics co-founder and CEO Damion Shelton ballparked it to be between 5-10 lbs. Digit, which is 5’9″ tall and weighs 140 kilos, can carry as much as 35 lbs. Second, Digit interacts with an AMR. I don’t suppose I’ve ever seen a humanoid collaborate with an AMR earlier than.
“Digit can work with the AMR just like how a human does,” mentioned Shelton. “Anybody getting a Spanx cargo inside the final couple weeks could have had Digit assist pack their product.”
How Digit may help
If this preliminary section is profitable, GXO mentioned it’ll pilot Digit in quite a lot of different roles in 2024. Primarily based in Greenwich, Connecticut, GXO manages greater than 970 provide chain services world wide totaling roughly 200 million sq. toes. So how can Digit show its price?
“There are two standards,” Stoch mentioned GXO is evaluating. “The primary is the maturity of the expertise. It must study from our teachings and transfer product as our enterprise wants it to. As soon as we show that, the second half is economics. It doesn’t must be a major monetary enterprise case due to the security advantages [Digit brings to the facility].”

Digit is shifting full totes from cellular robots to a conveyor at Spanx’s warehouse in Georgia. | Credit score: Agility Robotics

During her recent appearance on The Robot Report Podcast, Agility Robotics CTO Melonee Smart, who spent years growing wheeled, cellular robots, mentioned humanoids may help join “islands of automation.” Stoch echoed that sentiment, including that Digit’s potential flexibility provides it a nod over an AMR with a high module.
“The true utility right here is end-to-end product stream all through the warehouse,” Stoch mentioned. “Till now, options have been principally discrete functions: goods-to-person, sorters, wearable tech. Fixing discrete issues in a single a part of the puzzle.
“We now have 12-15 websites with extremely built-in, end-to-end flows that require heavy human interplay between the completely different areas. What we’ve received right here with Digit is a good first utility: cobot to robotic to conveyor. It’s lifting totes which have been packed, organized, put onto cellular robots.

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“A number of prospects have dynamic environments, and it’s arduous to foretell what volumes might be throughout peak season, not to mention Q2 subsequent 12 months. How a lot quantity will we obtain within the completely different elements of the warehouse? That’s the place having flexibility is vital. Even when that’s predictable, we are able to doubtlessly have Digit help the e-commerce facet of the enterprise on Black Friday after which have it stroll to a different a part of the warehouse on any given day.”
Humanoids getting their toes moist
Robots are in excessive demand inside logistics due to labor shortages, rising demand, and different challenges. Till lately, nonetheless, humanoids had not been thought-about a viable possibility for warehouse operators. There are nonetheless many naysayers.
It appears a new humanoid is revealed every month now. Apptronik, Determine, Fourier Intelligence, Sanctuary, Tesla, and Unitree are simply are few of the businesses engaged on commercializing humanoids. Now China desires in on the motion, saying it’ll mass produce humanoids by 2025.

Digit bends right down to take a tote off the underside shelf of a cellular robotic. | Credit score: Agility Robotics

In the interim, Agility Robotics has two legs up on the competitors. No matter whether or not you suppose humanoids are viable, these working in robotics shouldn’t underestimate what Agility Robotics has already completed; having Amazon and GXO take a look at a humanoid isn’t any small feat.
“We don’t have management over the ground end or the lighting [at the Spanx warehouse],” Shelton mentioned. “The rubber on Digit’s toes or its imaginative and prescient system are issues you may really solely study when on-site with prospects. That is the continued evolution of our system.”
Agility recently unveiled RoboFab, a robotic manufacturing facility in Salem, Oregon with the potential to provide greater than 10,000 robots per 12 months.
“The final couple of months have been the primary time we’ve been in a position to discuss publicly about our pilots,” Shelton mentioned. “We’re excited because it’s the fruits of what we’ve been engaged on. Delivery one thing in excessive quantity makes you related, not a footnote in historical past.”
“It’s arduous for us to get excited till we understand [Digit] is a shock to everybody else,” mentioned Jonathan Hurst, co-founder and chief robotic officer, of Agility Robotics. “We’ve been engaged on this for therefore lengthy, we knew this was coming. However to share it with prospects may be very thrilling. And that is only the start.”