Digit, the flagship robot at Oregon-based Agility Robotics, raised its hand to wave at the audience at the Fortune Brainstorm Tech in Park City, Utah, as CEO Peggy Johnson explained to the crowd why the robot\u2019s knees were, well, backward\u2014like bird legs.<\/p>\n
\u201cKnees get in the way of picking things up,\u201d she explained to Fortune<\/em> tech reporter Jason Del Rey, pointing out that Digit was designed to work in big warehouses, lifting things up and putting things down.\u00a0<\/p>\n Now, Digit is putting its backward-knees design, ten years in the making, to good use: The droid recently got hired at its first real job\u2014picking up totes at a Spanx facility in Connecticut and putting them onto conveyors. The work is part of a multi-year deal with logistics provider GXO Logistics<\/a>, and Johnson said the company is already getting monthly revenue from the robot-as-a-service project.\u00a0<\/p>\n Johnson, who has only been in the CEO role for four months, said that there are about 1.1 million unfilled warehouse jobs in the US that require the repetitive, mundane tasks Digit is doing. \u201cNobody wants these jobs,\u201d she said, adding that Digit can lift up to 50 pounds\u2014and repetitively lifting that weight leads to workers getting hurt, and ultimately quitting their warehouse jobs.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s where the injuries come in. That\u2019s where the turnover comes in,\u201d she said. Warehouse employees that used to do physical work are now becoming the managers of the robots, she added: \u201cThey need to be upskilled.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Stuart Isett\/Fortune<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Agility Robotics, which spun out of research at Oregon State University, raised $150 million in a Series C round in April 2024 as the company prepared to deploy Digit in logistics and warehouse environments. Now that Digit has been released into the wild of the warehouse, Johnson said the company is working on a rollout for its next generation of Digit to come in the fall. Thanks to a factory the company recently built in Salem, Oregon, the company will roll out hundreds of Digit robots, and thousands are planned for the following year\u2014with an eye towards a goal of 10,000 to meet growing demand.\u00a0<\/p>\n But it\u2019s not just about getting the robots to walk\u2014backward knees and all, Johnson emphasized. Instead, it\u2019s about the robot being able to step into an operation\u2019s existing workflow. \u201cWe need to enter a corporate IT infrastructure and make it work for them,\u201d she said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n In April 2024, Agility Robotics confirmed<\/a> that it laid off a \u201csmall number\u201d of employees because of \u201congoing efforts to structure the company for success\u201d\u00a0 while ramping up production of Digit. Johnson said that the company is currently raising capital for another round of funding down the line.\u00a0<\/p>\n But at the moment, she said, she is trying to figure out the best workplace for the handful of Digit robots currently available. \u201cWe have a lot of interest from automotive, retail grocers,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m trying to figure out which direction to go in.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n CEO Daily provides key context for the news leaders need to know from across the world of business. Every weekday morning, more than 125,000 readers trust CEO Daily for insights about\u2013and from inside\u2013the C-suite. Subscribe Now<\/a>.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/img-assets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/53859906425_476c5a58a3_o-e1721089836368.jpg?w=1440&q=75\"\/)