AI humanoid robots inch their way toward the workforce

Anders Brown, CEO of Tompkins Solutions, a systems integrator that has a partnership with Agility, says Agility, which has the manufacturing capacity to produce up to 10,000 robots a year, has deployed multiple Digit robots at various customer locations for production use as part of proof of concept or robot-as-a-service (RaaS) arrangements.

“The key to truly scaling beyond initial deployments is having a collaboratively safe robot, which Agility has made a pledge to release in 2026,” Brown says.

Tom Richer, CEO of AI consultancy Intelagen and a former CIO, pointed to Figure.AI robot, which has garnered significant attention and secured funding and a partnership with BMW for manufacturing applications. Along with xAI’s Optimus, Richer also noted AgiBot, a Chinese company that claims to have produced almost 1,000 units, and Boston Dynamics, whose humanoid robot Atlas has demonstrated impressive feats of movement and task execution, “but widespread deployment remains limited.”