At Dura Digital we are continually focused on identifying innovative companies helping shape the future.  As we mentioned in our earlier overview of the robotics market blog, humanoid robots are an emerging category of robots.  Earlier this year, the Corvallis, Oregon company Agility Robotics gained national attention after securing $150 million of funding from a consortium of investors including Amazon, Playground Global and DCVC.

Originally a research venture of Oregon State University, Agility Robotics has since evolved into an independent company with approximately 85 employees and offices in Corvallis, Palo Alto, and Pittsburgh.

Agility Robotics’ flagship commercial robot, Digit, is a bipedal robot designed to fit the role of a humanoid/cobot/AMR hybrid. Working in shared spaces with humans, Digit is to be primarily used for logistics and other menial tasks that human workers would not be expected to complete.

In this post, we seek to answer questions about what humanoid robots are, how they can be utilized, and why many companies are investing in their future.

Humanoids Explained

‍Most humanoid robots are bipeds with up to four limbs. Using cameras, LiDAR and various other sensors, they are designed to navigate their surroundings and complete “conventionally human” tasks with human-level agility, awareness, and coordination.

While the market for humanoid robots in the workforce is still in its infancy, the capabilities of Digit and other humanoids, like Boston Dynamics’ “Atlas”, show promise for an incredibly wide range of future applications. Spanning logistics, emergency operations, data collection and inspection, it is reasonable to expect these robots will actively contribute to the automation of repetitive tasks normally left to humans, which allows humans to focus on higher value-add work.

Many of these robots originate from academia, where extensive research continues to be conducted into robotic locomotion. Oregon State’s Cassie was the university precursor to Digit. Under Agility Robotics, Cassie has been redesigned, given arms and adapted for workforce applications.

Humanoids in Detail

‍Factory logistics has long been a use for many robots in industry. This is Digit’s professed application, and one that is currently dominated by Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs). In contrast to Digit, most AMRs are smaller, wheeled and can carry many tons of material at once.

However, almost all worldwide infrastructure is targeted towards human use. Therefore, it is only logical to think that an effective robot must be able to comfortably navigate and traverse human infrastructure. This is where humanoid robots possess distinct advantages over AMR competitors.

Unfortunately, these advantages do not come without cost. Replicating human mobility is an incredibly difficult task, and for good reason. Human locomotion is a process of evolution and natural selection which has taken thousands and thousands of years to develop. As a result, replicating human locomotion for a robot poses significant programming and design challenges. In comparison to the relative convenience and simplicity of wheeled AMR designs, it may appear to be unnecessary.

So, what then are the key advantages of humanoid robots over conventional AMRs? Humanoids are much taller, with Digit measuring in at 158cm (5 feet, 2 inches). This adds better flexibility for picking up objects as most AMRs are short and low to the ground, requiring add-ons like elevated racks or cobot arms to reach high up on fixed shelves. However, the low profile of most AMRs means they are highly stable and can carry much greater loads than Digit’s maximum 40-lbs.

In addition, while Digit can comfortably stabilize itself after being bumped, it is not nearly as resilient to being powerfully hit or shoved. This poses unique challenges that most AMRs would never have to face.

Still, as mentioned previously, robot infrastructure is important to consider. AMRs are typically confined to one floor and obviously cannot climb stairs. This is perfectly convenient for most single floor factories anyway, but in shared environments with human beings, humanoids are much more viable. Humanoids can traverse stairs and even the outdoors when transporting materials; capabilities which most AMRs simply do not have.

Humanoids are just as fast as AMRs too, with most moving at an industry standard maximum speed of 1.5 m/s. This top speed is obviously limited for safety purposes, but humanoid design does not sacrifice nearly as much speed or mobility as one might suppose.

The Dura Digital Takeaways

‍Considering this information, it may seem that even though humanoids have many advantages over Autonomous Mobile Robots, some of their drawbacks are so significant as to make them generally impractical for use in industry and manufacturing. This is partially true, as stability and payload are currently the two major weaknesses for humanoids like Digit.

Fortunately, the future is also incredibly bright for humanoid robots. Just five years removed from the development of Digit’s precursor, Cassie, Agility Robotics is still one of a very small number of companies who have even developed humanoids ready for commercial use. Earlier this year, Ford Motor Company became just the first corporation to adopt Digit commercially in a logistics capacity.

Humanoids are still relatively early in development, meaning that many of these large-scale investments into humanoid robotics companies will likely be returned with rapid results and future profits. This explains the reasoning behind the recent $150 million investment into Agility Robotics.

As the entire robotics industry continues to rapidly grow, humanoids will become vastly more efficient, stronger and more stable for use in logistics. Likewise, their ability to comfortably navigate the human world will continue to serve them well for future applications. At Dura Digital we continually invest in future technologies in hope of providing insights and awareness of new technologies that help you transform your business.  Contact us for more details on how we can help you achieve your digital transformation goals!