Contract logistics provider GXO Logistics Inc. will deploy humanoid robots in its warehouse operations under the terms of a multi-year agreement announced Thursday to use the bipedal “Digit” mobile manipulation robot (MMR) from Agility Robotics.
The move comes a week after GXO said it would begin conducting a research and development (R&D) trial with humanoid robots from another manufacturer, Austin, Texas-based Apptronik.
The new application follows a robots-as-a-service (RaaS) model that will integrate Agility’s humanoid robots with autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) at a GXO facility that handles inventory for the womens clothing brand Spanx. Working together, the Digit robots will assist with repetitive tasks such as moving totes from the collaborative robots (cobots) and placing them onto conveyors.
GXO will deploy the Digit robots along with Agility Arc, Agility’s cloud automation platform for managing fleets of Digit bots. The software also simplifies the deployment lifecycle, from facility mapping and workflow definition to operational management and troubleshooting, Corvallis, Oregon-based Agility said.
“We’re building on the success of last year’s groundbreaking pilot with Agility by deploying fully operational Digit humanoids into a live warehouse environment,” Adrian Stoch, GXO’s’ chief automation officer, said in a release. “Our R&D approach is to partner with developers all over the world to help them build and validate practical use cases that improve the working environment for our employees while optimizing operations for our customers. Agility shares this philosophy, and Digit is the perfect addition to work alongside our people in our fulfillment center. We’re delighted to progress our partnership through this critical milestone.”
