Agility Robotics opens humanoid training hub near Tesla's Optimus factory

Agility Robotics has opened a 60,000-square-foot facility in Fremont, California, to train its humanoid robot Digit — placing it squarely in Tesla’s backyard. While Elon Musk envisions Optimus as “the biggest product ever,” Agility’s Digit is already generating real-world revenue carrying totes and bins for customers like Amazon, GXO, Schaeffler, and Toyota. The company has secured $300 million in contract orders and reports that Digits have moved 100,000 totes at a single GXO logistics site. CEO Peggy Johnson notes that being near Tesla is beneficial because “for a long time Agility was out there alone,” and the company has already figured out how to meet safety, regulatory, and IT integration requirements in customer facilities.

Agility is taking a practical approach to autonomy: safety-critical systems run on deterministic code, not generative AI, while AI handles high-level task planning. The company is focused on industrial and logistics use cases, not consumer robots. A fifth-generation Digit (able to sense humans and work without robot-only zones) is expected this fall. Agility is also pursuing a reverse merger to become the first publicly traded pure-play humanoid robotics company. With over 30 customers in active discussions and a new facility to accelerate skill training, Agility aims to scale from bins and totes to loading trucks and handling cardboard — a market they estimate could reach 100 million robots.