Manufacturing
Deployment record
In the tracker →- Organisation
- GXO
- System
- Digit
- Stage
- Live
- Function
- e-commerce fulfillment
- 01GXO is expanding the deployment of its humanoid robot Digit to two additional warehouses in North Carolina and Tennessee, starting in early 2027, after successful operations in Georgia.
- 02Digit has achieved approximately 98% accuracy in task performance during its deployment at GXO's Flowery Branch warehouse, which has involved over 100,000 tote movements.
- 03Agility Robotics plans to introduce Digit 5, designed for closer interaction with humans and improved operational efficiency, with early access expected in the first half of 2027.
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- 04The operational economics of deploying humanoid robots like Digit are still being assessed, with ongoing data collection to evaluate uptime and throughput before further expansion decisions are made.
- 05GXO's humanoid robot deployments are part of a broader trend in the industry, with other companies like BMW and Mercedes-Benz also testing humanoid robots for specific industrial tasks.
GXO
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At GXO’s Flowery Branch warehouse in Georgia, Digit transfers totes from other robots onto a conveyor. After more than 100,000 tote movements, the companies are extending the deployment to two more facilities.
“Customers are moving beyond asking whether humanoid robots can work to deciding where they can scale them,” said Peggy Johnson, CEO of Agility Robotics.
In October this year, GXO and Agility Robotics announced that Digit would support e-commerce fulfillment in Statesville, North Carolina, and Lebanon, Tennessee, beginning in early 2027.
GXO has not disclosed the robot count or contract price. The expansion will test whether a task established at one warehouse can be repeated across locations with enough productive time to justify the cost.
A Job Between Existing Machines
The Georgia deployment followed a late-2023 pilot and a multiyear Robots-as-a-Service (RaaS) agreement signed in June 2024.
At the facility serving SPANX, Digit connects existing automation, including autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), with conveyors. Agility’s Arc software coordinates that handoff.
Agility’s deployment guidance acknowledges that an AMR or fixed robotic arm may be better suited to some tasks. The operational question is which form of automation can perform the work reliably at an acceptable cost.
From Tote Counts to Operating Economics
Agility reported approximately 98% accuracy while Digit was on-task at Flowery Branch. That measures task performance, rather than how much of a shift the robot was available.
Its reported 65,000-plus operating hours cover commercial operations and customer programs across multiple sites. Neither figure establishes GXO’s hourly throughput or the human assistance required, and the expansion announcement provides no site-level payback calculation.
Agility says its customer program collects 90 days of operational data to assess uptime and throughput before customers decide how to expand. Deployment engineers map the operating area and integrate fleet software, while customer teams receive training.
“When you first integrate any piece of automation equipment, it does not work as seamlessly as you want it to,” Agility states in its deployment guidance.
Repairs and software updates remain ongoing requirements. These activities matter to the economics because the cost of deployment extends beyond the time a robot spends moving goods.
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Digit 5 Targets Longer Working Hours
The new GXO sites will initially use Digit 4 and migrate to Digit 5 when it becomes commercially available. Fourth-generation Digit operates in a separated workcell, including during ongoing RaaS deployments.
Digit 5, unveiled in September, is designed to work closer to people and reduce reliance on protective barriers. Agility is also targeting a 50-pound payload and interchangeable grippers to expand its potential assignments.
Its Nyobolt-powered battery system is designed for 90 minutes of runtime followed by nine minutes of charging, compared with Digit 4’s 2:1 run-to-charge ratio.
“For our customers, Digit’s uptime is the business case,” said Daniel Diez, Chief Business Officer of Agility Robotics.
Agility projects more than 20 productive hours in a 24-hour day. These specifications are preliminary estimates from pre-production systems, with early access expected in the first half of 2027 and general availability targeted for year-end.
Beyond GXO
BMW has published operating figures from its completed Figure 02 pilot at Spartanburg. The robot moved more than 90,000 components over approximately 1,250 operating hours, positioning sheet-metal parts for welding and supporting production of more than 30,000 BMW X3 vehicles over ten months.
In June, BMW announced a Figure 03 project to sort components into sequencing trolleys for delivery to assembly. Like Digit’s assignment, it puts the humanoid within an existing material-flow system.
Mercedes-Benz’s Apollo work is described as testing intralogistics applications. Employees have transferred production knowledge through teleoperation, with the Berlin program working toward autonomous operation.
AGCO is also testing where Digit fits in manufacturing. Under a commercial agreement announced last month, the agricultural equipment maker plans a 2027 pilot at its Hesston, Kansas, plant, initially covering parts sorting and stacking, alongside placing totes into storage.
GXO also announced an early-stage Apollo proof of concept with Apptronik in 2024. Its commercial Digit expansion represents a different stage of adoption.
Amazon is also exploring both approaches. It announced testing Digit for empty-tote handling in 2023, while its dedicated STARK system transfers full totes from conveyors onto carts, with expansion to 15 European sites planned by 2027.
For GXO, the next step is extending the Georgia workflow to two more warehouses in early 2027. The planned transition to Digit 5 will also test whether its charging improvements translate into more productive working hours.
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