Agility Robotics’ warehouse robot Digit performs maneuvers at the company’s office in Pittsburgh. (Matt Freed/AP/File)
key takeaways:
- Agility Robotics said June 24 it would take the warehouse humanoid robot maker public through a SPAC merger at $2.5 billion.
- The move tests demand for AI-powered humanoid machines as labor shortages grow and customers including Amazon, Toyota and Mercado Libre deploy their own digitized robots.
- The deal is expected to close by the end of the year as Agility expands production and develops robots designed to work alongside humans in industrial settings.
A company that makes human-like robots that move goods around warehouses is going public on Wall Street in a test to see if there’s a market for putting AI-powered humanoid machines to work.
Agility Robotics, based in Salem, Oregon, announced on June 24 a planned merger with an investment firm that will value the company at $2.5 billion as it becomes the first publicly traded company dedicated solely to manufacturing and selling humanoids.
Its competitors include Tesla, whose CEO Elon Musk has touted its humanoid prototype Optimus as the carmaker’s future.
Designed to lift and carry heavy boxes and items, Agility’s product line, called Digit, “is the first humanoid robot to be employed and commercially operated in warehouse and industrial facilities,” said Michael Klein, co-founder and chairman of Churchill Capital Group, which runs a special purpose acquisition company that intends to merge with Agility by the end of the year.
Klein said on an investor call June 24 that the company has backing from Amazon, Nvidia, SoftBank and Taiwanese electronics maker Foxconn. Its early customers include Toyota, industrial parts supplier Schaeffler and Latin American e-commerce giant Mercado Libre.
While Agility describes its robots as humanoid, the company’s co-founder and chief robots officer Jonathan Hurst told investors on June 24 that “We never planned to build a machine that looked like a person.” Unlike other humanoids such as Tesla’s Optimus, Digit’s legs are more bird-like than human in a design meant to better fit the task they perform. Its hands are like grippers or claws.
.@agilityrobotics Set to go public via SPAC. CEO Peggy Johnson shared details: https://t.co/czqTq5q27s pic.twitter.com/7JoJyFrnYn
– Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) 24 June 2026
Agility CEO Peggy Johnson said Digit specializes in physical labor that would be repetitive, dirty and injury-prone for humans.
“The demand here is big and growing,” he said on an investor call. “We have companies that are restarting production, older workers are retiring, and the younger generation is not choosing these types of small jobs.”
While previous generations of industrial robots have typically been so large and fast-moving that they must be kept away from human workers, Hurst said upcoming versions of Digit will be able to work alongside humans in warehouses and manufacturing facilities.