Produced by Agility Robotics, two pre-production Digit prototypes will be on display at CES 2020 in Ford’s booth from January 7-10 in Las Vegas.
Since the first Digit prototype was shown in May, Agility Robotics has tested it extensively and refined the design.
“Digit represents a major milestone for Agility,” said Dr. Damion Shelton, CEO of Agility. “For the first time, a full humanoid robot - with both mobility and manipulation capabilities - will be available for customer applications in a wide variety of industries, both indoor and outdoor. We look forward to showing off our work on both logistics and non-logistics tasks in the coming months.”
Upgrades include more advanced feet that allow Digit to balance on one foot or carefully navigate obstacles, new sensors to perceive and map the world for robot navigation, and powerful onboard computer hardware.
Digit has been designed to walk upright without wasting energy, so it has no issue traversing the same types of environments most people do every day.
Digit’s unique design also allows it to tightly fold itself up for easy storage in the back of a vehicle until it’s called into action.
Once a vehicle arrives at its destination, Digit can be deployed to grab a package from the vehicle and carry out the final step in the delivery process.
If it encounters an unexpected obstacle, it can send an image back to the vehicle to leverage additional computing power.
The vehicle could even send that information into the cloud and request help from other systems to enable Digit to navigate, providing multiple levels of assistance that help keep the robot light and nimble.
Digit’s light weight also helps ensure it has a long run time, which is essential for delivery businesses that operate continuously through the business day.
