Agility's new humanoid is supposed to stop before it gets too close to humans

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Until now, Agility Robotics' humanoid robots have largely worked behind safety barriers in warehouses and factories, an awkward limitation for machines designed to work in spaces built for people.

The company says Digit 5, its next-generation humanoid unveiled Tuesday, is designed to change that.

The teal-blue robot can detect people nearby and slow down or stop when they get too close. If a person keeps approaching, Digit 5 can lower itself to the ground and shut off its motors before they reach it.

Business Insider got an early look at renderings of Digit 5 ahead of its unveiling. Agility cofounder and chief robot officer Jonathan Hurst said the redesign reflects lessons the company learned from deploying earlier versions with customers, including Amazon, Toyota, and logistics company GXO.

"Digit 5 is the first machine that is the full, formal product that has come from customer requirements and solves a couple of the major, absolute blockers that we didn't really know about until we actually engaged," Hurst told Business Insider.

Digit 5 arrives as Agility tries to prove that its early lead in humanoids can become a real business. The company says it has Digit robots deployed across nine customer facilities in North America. But better-funded rivals, including Figure AI and Tesla, are racing to put their own robots to work.

Agility says it has more than $300 million in multiyear orders for Digit 5, even as the business remains unprofitable. It generated $1.8 million in net sales in 2025 and reported a $140 million operating loss, according to a securities filing last week.

Agility is led by Peggy Johnson, the former CEO of Magic Leap and a longtime executive at Microsoft and Qualcomm. The company plans to become the first US humanoid maker to go public through a SPAC deal valuing it at about $2.5 billion, even as the case for humanoid robots remains hotly debated.

Agility's securities filing also offered a glimpse into Digit's economics. In one model, Agility assumed a customer would pay about $200,000 for a Digit 5, plus about a $20,000 deployment fee and $36,000 a year for software and maintenance. Over five years, that would total about $400,000 per robot.

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Agility said that the figures were illustrative and that actual customer contracts would be negotiated individually.