Agility Robotics on Thursday confirmed that it has laid off a “small number” of employees. The well-funded Oregon-based firm says the job loss is a component of a company-wide concentrate on commercialization efforts.
“As a part of Agility’s ongoing efforts to structure the corporate for fulfillment, now we have parted ways with a small variety of employees that weren’t central to core product development and commercialization,” the corporate wrote in an announcement provided to TechCrunch. “At the identical time, we’re focused on meeting the extraordinary demand for bipedal robots across industrial use cases. Meaning ramping up production of Digit while continuing to win top-tier global customers, and adding recent roles that meet these goals. We imagine today’s actions will allow us to concentrate on the areas that drive productization, commercialization, and production of Digit.”
Agility was ahead of the economic humanoid curve with its bipedal robot, Digit. The firm was spun out of research conducted at Oregon State University. There’s been no lack of interest in its impressive legged robots through the years. Ford was an early champion, as Agility explored Digit’s last-mile-delivery potential. Ultimately, nevertheless, those efforts were placed on the back burner, as the corporate shifted focus to understaffed warehouses.
There’s been no lack of funding for Agility’s efforts, despite a general slowdown in investments in and adoption of robotic systems, each of which will be seen as corrections following a large pandemic-fueled boom.
Two years ago this month, the corporate announced a $150 million Series B. Amazon notably participated within the round by the use of its Industrial Innovation Fund. The retail giant subsequently announced that it could pilot Digits as a part of its achievement center workflow. The pilots have since ended, but neither company has announced next steps.
A lot of other humanoid robotics firms have announced their very own pilots in recent months, including Figure with BMW and Apptronik with Mercedes. Last month at Modex, Agility showcased updates to Digit’s end effectors designed specifically for automotive manufacturing workflows.
Agility has also made numerous high-profile hires over the past yr, including Magic Leap CEO Peggy Johnson joining as chief executive, Fetch CEO Melonee Smart as CTO and former Apple and Ford executive Aindrea Campbell in as COO.
The corporate’s jobs page currently lists five open roles, largely focused on engineering and manufacturing.
