Agility's Cofounder Explains Why Digit 5 Is Not the Robot He Dreamed Of

In an essay for IEEE Spectrum, Agility Robotics cofounder Jonathan Hurst explains the thinking behind Digit 5. The robot is built to lift 23 kilogram bins onto high shelves and run 90 minutes on a quick 9 minute charge, with the goal of putting tens of thousands of humanoid workers into real jobs.

Hurst admits the new robot is heavy and bulky and lacks the graceful motion of earlier Digits. Delivering a useful commercial product meant taking a very different path from the dynamic walking research he started at Oregon State.

Why it matters: it is a rare, candid look at the tradeoffs between research elegance and a robot customers will actually pay for.