en.Wedoany.com Reported - Agility Robotics announced on Wednesday that it plans to go public on Wall Street through a merger with an investment company, making it the first listed company fully focused on manufacturing and selling humanoid robots, with a valuation of $2.5 billion. The Salem, Oregon-based company's product line, Digit, is specifically designed to pick up and move heavy totes and boxes in warehouses.

The listing will test market demand for AI-driven humanoid robots in the workplace. Agility's competitors include Tesla, whose CEO Elon Musk has promoted the humanoid robot prototype Optimus as the future of the automaker. Michael Klein, co-founder and chairman of Churchill Capital Group, said Digit is "the first humanoid robot to be hired and commercially deployed in warehouses and industrial facilities." The group operates a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) and plans to complete the merger with Agility by the end of the year.

Klein said on an investor conference call Wednesday that Agility has backing from Amazon, Nvidia, SoftBank, and Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Foxconn. Its early customers include Toyota, industrial parts supplier Schaeffler, and Latin American e-commerce giant Mercado Libre. Co-founder and Chief Robotics Officer Jonathan Hurst emphasized to investors, "We never intended to build a machine that looks like a human." Digit's leg design is more bird-like than human, and unlike other robots such as Tesla's Optimus, its hands are more similar to grippers or claws, designed to better suit its tasks.

CEO Peggy Johnson noted on the investor call that Digit focuses on physical labor that is repetitive, dirty, and injury-prone for humans. She said demand is huge and growing, as companies bring production back home, older workers retire, and younger generations are unwilling to take on such low-end jobs. Hurst stated that unlike previous generations of large, fast-moving industrial robots that typically had to be isolated from workers, the upcoming version of Digit will be able to work alongside humans in warehouses and manufacturing facilities.

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