Agility Robotics on Thursday confirmed that it has laid off a “small quantity” of workers. The well-funded Oregon-based agency says the job loss is a part of a company-wide concentrate on commercialization efforts.
“As a part of Agility’s ongoing efforts to construction the corporate for fulfillment, we now have parted methods with a small variety of workers that weren’t central to core product growth and commercialization,” the corporate wrote in an announcement supplied to TechCrunch. “On the similar time, we’re centered on assembly the extraordinary demand for bipedal robots throughout industrial use instances. Which means ramping up manufacturing of Digit whereas persevering with to win top-tier world clients, and including new roles that meet these targets. We imagine right now’s actions will permit us to concentrate on the areas that drive productization, commercialization, and manufacturing of Digit.”
Agility was forward of the economic humanoid curve with its bipedal robotic, Digit. The agency was spun out of analysis carried out 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. Finally, nonetheless, these efforts have 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 could be seen as corrections following an enormous pandemic-fueled increase.
Two years in the past this month, the corporate introduced a $150 million Sequence B. Amazon notably participated within the spherical by the use of its Industrial Innovation Fund. The retail big subsequently introduced that it will pilot Digits as a part of its achievement heart workflow. The pilots have since ended, however neither firm has introduced subsequent steps.
Plenty of different humanoid robotics companies have introduced their very own pilots in current months, together with Determine 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 various high-profile hires over the previous 12 months, together with Magic Leap CEO Peggy Johnson becoming a member of as chief govt, Fetch CEO Melonee Smart as CTO and former Apple and Ford govt Aindrea Campbell in as COO.
The corporate’s jobs web page at present lists 5 open roles, largely centered on engineering and manufacturing.