Agility Robotics and GXO will put Digit humanoids to work at two more GXO warehouses starting in early 2027

GXO Logistics and Agility Robotics announced an expanded partnership on October 26. Agility’s Digit humanoid robot will support e-commerce fulfillment at GXO’s sites in Statesville, North Carolina and Lebanon, Tennessee, taking on highly repetitive material-handling tasks. The companies said deployments are expected to begin in early 2027 using Digit 4, with a migration to Digit 5 once it becomes commercially available. Agility unveiled Digit 5, designed to work safely in close proximity to people, on September 15.

The partnership began with a proof-of-concept pilot in late 2023 at GXO’s site in Flowery Branch, Georgia. In June 2024 the companies signed a multi-year robots-as-a-service (RaaS) agreement, which they describe as the first formal commercial deployment of humanoid robots in live operations. At Flowery Branch, Digit takes totes from existing automation and places them onto conveyors, and it has moved more than 100,000 totes so far. Agility says Digit has logged more than 65,000 hours of real-world operation across its customers.

The cost and number of robots were not disclosed. According to The Robot Report, GXO has also tested other humanoids, including Apptronik’s Apollo and a robot from Reflex Robotics. GXO CEO Patrick Kelleher acknowledged on the company’s August earnings call that humanoids had not yet produced a return on investment. Agility says its RoboFab factory in Oregon can build up to 10,000 robots a year. The company is preparing to go public on Nasdaq through a merger with Churchill Capital Corp XI, expected to close in the fourth quarter.