Humanoid robots are pretty cool, and Agility Robotics‘ bipedal robot Digit is up there in terms of advanced tech (it even has a face!). Today, the company announced it’s getting ready to crank up its RoboFab, which can build more than 10,000 Digits per year. Obvious Skynet jokes aside, I, for one, welcome our new robotic overlords.
The factory will be built in Salem, Oregon, and the company tells TechCrunch it started initial construction of the 70,000-square-foot robot factory last year, and it is set to open later this year.
“The opening of our factory marks a pivotal moment in the history of robotics: the beginning of the mass production of commercial humanoid robots,” said Agility Robotics’ co-founder and CEO Damion Shelton. “We built Digit to solve difficult problems in today’s workforce like injuries, burnout, high turnover and unfillable labor gaps, with the ultimate vision of enabling humans to be more human. When you’re building new technology to make society better, the most important milestone is when you’re able to mass produce that technology at a scale where it can have a real, widespread impact.”
The company is showing off its factory in a video it produced for the occasion, which includes some shots of Digit in action. Of course, the company will be using Digit in the production of Digit, which is kind of like the opposite of cannibalism, so that’s pretty neat.
I’m interviewing Melonee Wise (CTO) and Damion Shelton from Agility on the TechCrunch Disrupt Hardware stage later this week, and Digit may even make an appearance, so you can meet the robot in person. Be there, or be FOMO-ing so hard you’ll wish you had been.