Digit 5 is Agility Robotics' new warehouse humanoid, unveiled on September 15, 2026, and its headline feature is not strength or speed — it is that it can work next to people without a safety cage. The 5-foot-11, 284-pound robot lifts 50 pounds, runs for more than 20 hours a day on a 90-minute battery that recharges in nine minutes, and is the first humanoid designed to be field-evaluated against OSHA industrial safety standards.
The cage is the whole story. Every serious industrial robot until now has worked behind a barrier, because a machine that can lift 50 pounds can also injure a person. Removing the barrier is what would let humanoids actually slot into existing warehouses, and it is the hardest problem in the field. Agility is claiming it has a working answer.
This article covers what Digit 5 can do, how its cooperative-safety system works, the battery numbers that make 20-hour operation plausible, what it will cost, and whether "no cage" holds up.
Key Takeaways
- Digit 5 was unveiled September 15, 2026: 5-foot-11, 284 pounds, with a 50-pound repeated-lift payload and 7.2-foot reach.
- It is built to work alongside people without physical safety barriers, using sensors and an independent safety controller.
- The battery runs 90 minutes and recharges in nine minutes — a 10:1 run-to-charge ratio, up from 2:1 on Digit 4, enabling 20-plus hours a day.
- Redesigned human-like legs with cycloidal actuators let it crouch, kneel and lift, replacing Digit 4's bird-like legs.
- Early access begins in the first half of 2027, with wider availability later in 2027; Agility reported over $300 million in conditional orders as of May 2026.
What is the Agility Robotics Digit 5?
Digit 5 is the fifth generation of Agility Robotics' Digit humanoid, a robot built to move materials in warehouses and manufacturing plants. Made by Agility Robotics of Salem, Oregon, it stands 5 feet 11 inches (1.8 meters), weighs 284 pounds (129 kg), and can repeatedly lift 50 pounds (23 kg) to a height of 2.1 meters. Its reach extends to 7.2 feet, up from 5.5 feet on Digit 4.
The design brief is narrow and deliberate. According to The Robot Report, Digit 5 is meant to move totes, bins and boxes shoulder-to-shoulder with human workers, not to be a general-purpose android. Agility drew on three years of Digit 4 customer deployments to decide what to change.
The most visible change is the legs. Earlier Digit robots had backward-bending, bird-like legs — a distinctive look that was efficient for walking but awkward for the actual job. Digit 5's legs bend in a human-like direction, which lets it crouch, kneel and collect cargo from the floor. It even has knee pads for kneeling. As Interesting Engineering noted, the redesign trades the ostrich silhouette for the ability to do warehouse ergonomics.
Under the covers:
| Spec | Digit 5 |
|---|---|
| Height | 5 ft 11 in (1.8 m) |
| Weight | 284 lb (129 kg) |
| Payload (repeated) | 50 lb (23 kg), up to 2.1 m |
| Reach | 7.2 ft |
| Motors | 30, controlled at ~1,000 cycles/second |
| Actuators | Proprietary cycloidal |
| Payload vs Digit 4 | +40% |
| End effectors | ISO-standard replaceable grippers |
The cycloidal actuators and 40% payload increase are the substance behind the leg redesign. Cycloidal gearing handles high torque at low speed well — the exact profile of squatting and lifting a heavy tote — which is why the new legs can do work the old ones could not.
How does Digit 5 work safely around people?
Digit 5 works around people using layered perception and an independent safety controller. Multiple cameras, depth sensors and inertial measurement units continuously detect nearby humans, and the robot responds by changing direction, stopping, or lowering itself into a seated position with its motors shut down when someone gets too close. This lets it operate without the physical barriers earlier industrial robots required.
The design principle here is worth naming because it is different from how most robots handle safety. Most systems treat safety as a hard stop: detect a person, halt. Agility's approach is cooperative — the robot tries to keep working while continuously yielding space, and escalates to a full stop or a seated shutdown only when it has to.
Three features make that trustworthy rather than a marketing line:
- An independent safety controller. The system that stops the robot is separate from the system that decides what work to do. If the main AI misbehaves, the safety layer can still act. This separation is standard practice in functional safety, and its presence is what makes "no cage" a claim worth taking seriously.
- Visual and auditory cues. Digit 5 signals its intentions so nearby workers are not surprised by its movements — the robot equivalent of eye contact.
- A seated safe state. When people are too close, it can autonomously assume a seated position with motors off. A 284-pound machine sitting down with its actuators disabled is a fundamentally safer object than one frozen upright.
The standards story is the part that separates Digit 5 from most humanoid announcements. Agility says it is the first humanoid designed to undergo field evaluation against OSHA industrial safety standards, and it is participating in US, Canadian and ISO safety-standards efforts. NVIDIA's IGX Thor and its Halos safety platform were used to develop the safety controller.
Why this matters more than the payload spec: a warehouse operator cannot deploy a caged humanoid into an aisle where people walk. The barrier defeats the purpose. Certified cooperative safety is the gate every humanoid has to pass to do the jobs the marketing videos show, and most competitors are demonstrating capability while quietly keeping the cage. Passing a recognized safety evaluation, not lifting more weight, is the real milestone here.
The battery is the other breakthrough
Digit 5 runs for 90 minutes on a charge and recharges fully in nine minutes, a roughly 10:1 run-to-charge ratio that lets it work more than 20 hours in a 24-hour day. On Digit 4 the ratio was about 2:1. This is the change that turns a humanoid from a demo into a shift worker.
The math is what sells it. A robot that runs 90 minutes and then charges 90 minutes is useful half the time. A robot that runs 90 minutes and charges nine is available almost continuously, with brief top-ups scheduled around the work.
def uptime(run_min, charge_min):
cycle = run_min + charge_min
hours_per_day = 24 * (run_min / cycle)
return hours_per_day, run_min / charge_min
for name, run, charge in [("Digit 4 (~2:1)", 90, 45), ("Digit 5 (10:1)", 90, 9)]:
hrs, ratio = uptime(run, charge)
print(f"{name}: {hrs:.1f} working hours/day, {ratio:.0f}:1 run-to-charge")
# Digit 4 (~2:1): 16.0 working hours/day, 2:1 run-to-charge
# Digit 5 (10:1): 21.8 working hours/day, 10:1 run-to-charge
The figures assume the robot docks whenever it is idle, which is how Agility describes real deployments — brief, frequent charges rather than one long one. In labour terms, one Digit 5 that works 20-plus hours a day covers what would otherwise take multiple human shifts, which is the comparison every buyer will run.
This is also where humanoids connect to a broader trend we covered in humanoid robots deployed in 2026: the real numbers. Uptime is what separates the units doing real work from the ones stuck in pilots.
What will Digit 5 cost, and when can you get it?
Agility expects to begin early access to Digit 5 in the first half of 2027, with wider availability for warehouse, manufacturing and distribution operators later in 2027. Agility has not published a Digit 5 price, but reported more than $300 million in conditional, multi-year orders as of May 2026, and industry estimates put the run-rate cost well below human labour over time.
On economics, the public numbers come from analyst estimates rather than an Agility price sheet, so treat them as directional:
- Bill of materials at launch: roughly $150,000–$200,000 per unit, per industry estimates.
- Projected cost at scale (10,000 units/year): under $50,000 per robot.
- Service-model estimate: around $8,500 per month under a robotics-as-a-service arrangement.
The manufacturing capacity to hit those volumes exists: Agility's RoboFab facility spans 70,000 square feet and is built for up to 10,000 robots a year.
The delivery model most operators will use is robotics-as-a-service (RaaS) rather than outright purchase. Instead of a capital outlay plus maintenance, you pay a monthly fee and the vendor handles servicing and updates — the same shift from buying to subscribing that reshaped enterprise software. It lowers the barrier to a pilot and lets an operator scale robots up or down with demand.
A realistic buyer's timeline:
| Phase | When | What to expect |
|---|---|---|
| Early access | H1 2027 | Limited units, close vendor support, structured pilots |
| Wider availability | Later 2027 | Broader ordering for warehouse and manufacturing operators |
| Scale pricing | Beyond 2027 | Per-unit cost falls as volume approaches the 10,000/year capacity |
For context on the manufacturing and automation wave Digit 5 is part of, see our coverage of Gemini Robotics 2, which looks at the AI models increasingly used to control machines like this.
Is the "no cage" claim real?
The claim is credible but unproven at scale. Digit 5 was designed for cage-free operation, backed by an independent safety controller and a plan to be field-evaluated against OSHA standards — which is more rigorous than most humanoid safety claims. But "designed for" and "field-evaluated against" are not the same as "certified and deployed across thousands of units," and Digit 5 does not reach wide availability until later in 2027.
What supports the claim:
- A genuinely independent safety controller, developed on hardware built for functional safety.
- Active participation in US, Canadian and ISO standards work, rather than a self-declared safety rating.
- Three years of prior Digit deployments informing the design.
What is still open:
- No completed OSHA field evaluation has been published; it is a stated intention.
- Cage-free operation at scale, across many sites and edge cases, has not yet been demonstrated.
- Independent third-party safety testing results are not yet available.
The honest read is that Agility is further along than competitors who show capability while keeping the barrier, and that the right posture is cautious optimism. The safety architecture is the correct design. The proof will be a clean field-evaluation record across real deployments in 2027, not a launch video.
Frequently asked questions
When was Digit 5 released? Agility Robotics unveiled Digit 5 on September 15, 2026. Early access begins in the first half of 2027, with wider availability for warehouse, manufacturing and distribution operators later in 2027.
How much can Digit 5 lift? Digit 5 can repeatedly lift 50 pounds (23 kg) to a height of about 2.1 meters. That is a 40% increase in payload over Digit 4, enabled by a redesigned leg with cycloidal actuators.
How long does Digit 5's battery last? Digit 5 runs for about 90 minutes on a charge and recharges fully in nine minutes. That 10:1 run-to-charge ratio, up from roughly 2:1 on Digit 4, lets it operate more than 20 hours in a 24-hour day with regular docking.
Can Digit 5 work safely around people? It is designed to. Digit 5 uses cameras, depth sensors and inertial units to detect people, and an independent safety controller that can slow, stop or seat the robot without physical barriers. Agility says it is the first humanoid built to be field-evaluated against OSHA standards.
How much does Digit 5 cost? Agility has not published a price. Industry estimates put the bill of materials at $150,000–$200,000 per unit at launch, falling below $50,000 at high volume, with a robotics-as-a-service option estimated around $8,500 per month.
Who makes Digit 5? Digit 5 is made by Agility Robotics, based in Salem, Oregon. The company builds the Digit line at its RoboFab facility, which spans 70,000 square feet and is designed to produce up to 10,000 robots per year.
The verdict
Digit 5 is the most credible attempt yet to put a humanoid to work in the same space as people, and it succeeds by focusing on the two things that actually block deployment — safety without a cage, and uptime measured in shifts rather than minutes. The 50-pound payload and human-like legs matter, but a caged robot that lifts more would still be stuck behind the barrier. The nine-minute recharge and the independent safety controller are the real advances.
The caveats are honest ones: the OSHA field evaluation is planned, not finished, and cage-free operation at scale is a 2027 proof point, not a 2026 fact. Agility is ahead of the field on exactly the right problem, which is a better place to be than ahead on specs that do not gate deployment.
For where this fits in the wider push into physical AI, read humanoid robots deployed in 2026 next.
The humanoids that matter will not be the ones that lift the most. They will be the ones allowed out of the cage.
