World's First Factory for Humanoid Robots Coming
05 December 2023 01:06 PM EST
facebook sharing buttontwitter sharing buttonlinkedin sharing button
Comment|Print| A A
A robotics manufacturing facility with plans to produce 10,000 two-legged robots per year is set to open in 2024 in Salem, Oregon.
Agility Robotics' RoboFab manufacturing plant will be the first to mass-produce human-like robots, the company said.
Bipedal robots could be more dexterous and versatile in industrial settings than their currently operational prototypes — a possibility that has not escaped China, which recently set a goal of mass-producing human-like robots by 2025.
The RoboFab facility, described by Agility Robotics' CEO Damion Shelton as "the world's first purpose-built humanoid robot factory, is slated to open in early 2024, according to Axios.
"We've placed a very high priority on just getting robots out there as fast as possible," Shelton, who's also a co-founder of the robotics company, told the outlet. "Our big plan is that we want to get to general-purpose humanoids as soon as we can."
The company makes a highly sought-after robot named Digit that's being tested by Amazon, which it says is the first commercially available human-like robot designed to work in warehouses.
Since its founding in 2015, Agility has produced approximately 100 robots and plans to move production of Digit from its robot factory in Tangent, Oregon, to the new 70,000-square-foot RoboFab facility, Axios reported.
Production will initially be in the hundreds, but RoboFab is ultimately "going to have a significantly larger capacity of 10,000 robots per year, peak," Shelton told Axios.
Amazon, which uses a variety of robots in its warehouses, recently announced it is testing Digit at a lab just south of Seattle.
"Our initial use for this technology will be to help employees with tote recycling, a highly repetitive process of picking up and moving empty totes once inventory has been completely picked out of them," Amazon said in a press release.
At 5 feet, 9 inches tall, weighing 140 pounds, Digit reportedly can plug itself in when it needs to be recharged, and Amazon says the robot "can move, grasp, and handle items in spaces and corners of warehouses in novel ways." It's "size and shape" are also "well suited for buildings that are designed for humans."
Amazon was reportedly part of a $150 million funding round that Agility completed last year through the Amazon Industrial Innovation Fund.
"We're excited about Agility — we've been working closely with them since about April of last year," Tye Brady, Amazon's chief roboticist, told Axios. "I'm curious about the bipedal nature. I'm curious about mobility in general."
https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/robots-manufacturing-oregon/2023/12/05/id/1144828/