Agility Robotics on Thursday confirmed that it has laid off a “small number” of workers. The well-funded Oregon-based agency says the job loss is a part of a company-wide deal with commercialization efforts.
“As part of Agility’s ongoing efforts to structure the company for success, we have parted ways with a small number of employees that were not central to core product development and commercialization,” the corporate wrote in an announcement supplied to TechCrunch. “At the same time, we are focused on meeting the extraordinary demand for bipedal robots across industrial use cases. That means ramping up production of Digit while continuing to win top-tier global customers, and adding new roles that meet these goals. We believe today’s actions will allow us to focus on the areas that drive productization, commercialization, and production of Digit.”
Agility was forward of the commercial humanoid curve with its bipedal robotic, Digit. The agency was spun out of analysis performed at Oregon State College. There’s been no lack of curiosity in its spectacular legged robots over time. Ford was an early champion, as Agility explored Digit’s last-mile-delivery potential. In the end, nevertheless, these efforts had been positioned on the again burner, as the corporate shifted focus to understaffed warehouses.
There’s been no lack of funding for Agility’s efforts, regardless of a common slowdown in investments in and adoption of robotic methods, each of which will be seen as corrections following an enormous pandemic-fueled increase.
Two years in the past this month, the corporate introduced a $150 million Collection B. Amazon notably participated within the spherical by the use of its Industrial Innovation Fund. The retail big subsequently introduced that it might pilot Digits as a part of its achievement middle workflow. The pilots have since ended, however neither firm has introduced subsequent steps.
Quite a lot of different humanoid robotics companies have introduced their very own pilots in latest months, together with Figure with BMW and Apptronik with Mercedes. Final month at Modex, Agility showcased updates to Digit’s finish effectors designed particularly for automotive manufacturing workflows.
Agility has additionally made plenty of high-profile hires over the previous 12 months, together with Magic Leap CEO Peggy Johnson becoming a member of as chief government, Fetch CEO Melonee Smart as CTO and former Apple and Ford government Aindrea Campbell in as COO.
The corporate’s jobs web page at present lists 5 open roles, largely centered on engineering and manufacturing.
