The Digit 5 ​​humanoid robot from American startup Agility Robotics is equipped with technology that charges 9 minutes for 90 minutes and can operate 20/24 hours a day.

Launched last weekend, Digit 5 ​​provides an operating time/charging time ratio of up to 10:1, which means it can operate for 10 minutes for every minute of charging, a sharp increase compared to 2:1 on the Digit 4 generation. To achieve this fast charging ability, Agility equips the robot with new lithium-ion battery technology using tungsten and niobium materials in the anode (cathode) coating produced by Nyobolt.

Nyobolt, headquartered in Cambridge (UK), develops a battery technology of the same name that can charge from 10% to 80% in less than 5 minutes. According to Agility Robotics, Nyobolt's high-power battery was chosen for the Digit 5 ​​due to its "powerful, small and light" characteristics, combining fast charging capabilities with a design focused on cycle life and reduced system weight.

"Digit 5 ​​can operate effectively for more than 20 hours a day, equivalent to more than two work shifts, helping customers increase the value of use and economic efficiency when deploying humanoid robots," Daniel Diez, Sales Director of Agility Robotics, told Interesting Engineering.

According to Diez, upgrading the battery on the Digit5 solves a real challenge for commercial robots: ensuring the machine operates long enough for deployment to be effective, while minimizing downtime to charge the battery. Equipping Nyobolt with batteries takes the goal of humanoid robots "working closely together with people" one step further.

In addition to fast charging and long usage time, Digit 5 ​​is also heavily upgraded. The new robot weighs 129 kg and is 1.81 meters high (can be raised to 2.2 meters) to help flexibly access warehouses of different heights. Load capacity is also 40% higher thanks to a new leg design that increases resistance to repetitive tasks.

Agility says the Digit 5 ​​is designed with a safety system that reduces reliance on protective barriers, allowing the robot to work near humans. It is also the first humanoid robot to pass an independent field assessment of industrial safety on a customer's production line, according to standards administered by the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

Regarding software, Digit 5 ​​uses AI and a sensor system to continuously monitor human position, thereby avoiding, stopping or adjusting posture when needed. The robot emits visual and audio signals to inform the direction of movement, and has an independent safety controller that activates a response when detecting people at a dangerous distance. Agility said it is the first partner of the Halos for Robotics platform provided by Nvidia, connecting with Nvidia IGX Thor and Halos Core infrastructure to enhance robot safety when working near humans.

Digit 5 ​​also integrates Agility Arc, a cloud platform that helps deploy and manage robot fleets, tracking a variety of metrics such as uptime, productivity and mean time between failures. The machine uses cameras, depth sensors and inertial measurement units to navigate, process data right on the device, and send status information and system diagnostics to Agility Arc. According to Agility, the solution is trained on more than 65,000 hours of real-world operational data.

Digit 5 ​​is assembled at RoboFab - a 6,500 square meter factory in Oregon, which is designed to produce up to 10,000 Digit robots per year, according to New Atlas. The new robot is expected to be put into commercial use in the first half of 2027, serving manufacturing plants, warehouses and distribution centers.

Agility Robotics was founded in 2015 by Jonathan Hurst, Damion Shelton and Mikhail Jones, from the Dynamic Robotics Laboratory at Oregon State University. The company, headquartered in Salem, Oregon, specializes in developing humanoid robots for industrial use, notably with the Digit model capable of transporting goods in factories and warehouses.

The previous Digit 4 model also made a big impression. According to Agility, the robot has accumulated more than 65,000 operating hours at GXO, Schaeffler, Amazon and Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada locations in North America. At GXO's facility in Flowery Branch, near Atlanta, robots process a total of 100,000 boxes with about 98% accuracy.

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