This wheeled robotic rendering appeared in Agility Robotics’ latest Digit 5 launch video. | Credit score: Agility Robotics
When Agility Robotics unveiled Digit 5 final week, one element close to the tip of the launch video caught our consideration: a humanoid robotic on wheels. Why would an organization that has spent a lot time touting the advantages of legged robots select to point out a wheeled robotic?
We reached out to Agility Robotics CEO and chief robotic officer Jonathan Hurst to ask why. His reply confirmed what we had speculated about on The Robotic Report Podcast: Agility was planting a seed about what might come subsequent.
Hurst informed The Robotic Report that Agility is certainly exploring wheeled robots.
“We’re exploring a spread of robotic designs and kind elements, together with wheels, to deal with totally different working environments and buyer wants,” Hurst mentioned through e mail. “As the protection, reliability and capabilities of legged robots proceed to advance, I anticipate they’ll develop into the fitting answer for an more and more broad vary of purposes. Within the meantime, we’re fascinated about exploring different approaches that would assist us carry robotics to extra environments sooner.”
We then requested whether or not Agility envisions a wheeled model of Digit or a completely new robotic with a distinct title and kind issue, similar to a one-armed cellular manipulator. There may be additionally no timeline for if and when a wheeled robotic would come to market.
“Too early to say!,” Hurst mentioned. “I’ve guesses and inclinations, however actually we’re simply beginning.”
Legs vs. wheels
The legs-versus-wheels debate has been one of the vital frequent conversations in robotics the previous few years. Wheels provide higher stability, easier mechanics and decrease power consumption in flat, predictable environments. Legs stay invaluable in environments designed for people, the place robots must navigate stairs, obstacles and different uneven terrain.
The shape issue takes on added significance as Agility works to commercialize Digit. Agility goes public by way of a SPAC with Churchill Capital Corp. XI. The SPAC values Agility at $2.5 billion and is anticipated to generate greater than $620 million in gross proceeds.
The SPAC deal offered a primary have a look at Agility’s financials earlier this month. It reported $1.8 million in 2025 income in opposition to a $140 million working loss. Agility mentioned within the S-4 submitting that it has greater than $300 million in multi-year Digit v5 orders from one buyer that it expects to meet over the approaching years. That backlog exhibit there’s vital demand for Digit, however the small quantity of acknowledged income additionally underscores how early Agility and different legged humanoid builders stay in scaling their companies.
A wise transfer
Discovering extra purposes and prospects is important for Agility as it really works to develop income and scale its enterprise. A wheeled robotic might give the corporate one other method to carry its expertise to market sooner, notably in environments the place the capabilities of a legged robotic aren’t prepared or crucial.
The is especially notable for an organization whose identification is deeply rooted in legged robotics. Hurst has spent a long time researching legged locomotion, and Agility constructed its enterprise round bipedal robots. However the firm has proven it’s prepared to rethink even basic features of that design. With Digit 5, for instance, Agility moved away from its distinctive backwards-bending knees used on earlier variations of the robotic.
That evolution in considering is a constructive signal for Agility. As it really works to show Digit into a bigger industrial enterprise, the corporate seems more and more prepared to adapt its robots to the realities of the market reasonably than stay wedded to a specific kind issue or design philosophy.
Hurst and Agility CTO Pras Velagapudi will each be at RoboBusiness (October 20-21 in Santa Calif.), a robotics improvement occasion produced by The Robotic Report. Hurst is on the opening keynote, “The Subsequent 20 Years of Robotics,” with Rodney Brooks (co-founder and CTO of Sturdy AI) and Ken Goldberg (UC Berkeley). Velagapudi is on the Day 2 opening keynote “The State of Humanoids,” with fellow humanoid builders Apptronik and Persona AI, as effectively dexterous hand developer PSYONIC.
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