Agility Robotics co-founder and chief robot officer Jonathan Hurst joins John Furrier on theCUBE at MACHINA in Paris to discuss Digit’s path to commercial use, human-centered workflows, robot learning, and safety.
Hurst says his work centers on hardware, actuators, industrial design, and the robot’s long-term direction, while CTO Pras Velagapudi leads software operations. After a decade that included research sales and proof-of-concept work, Agility is shaping Digit V5 for customer needs such as functional safety, fast charging, insurance requirements, IT systems, and measurable returns.
Hurst sees a strong fit in workplaces where people still perform varied tasks that are difficult to automate with fixed equipment. Digit’s early target includes moving large bins between shelves, conveyors, mobile robots, and pallet stacks, where two arms and balance help in tight spaces. He describes the product as multipurpose, built to gain useful skills step by step.
Hurst views methods such as reinforcement learning, demonstrations, and language models as complementary tools rather than a single solution. Agility buys components such as cameras when established suppliers meet its needs, but develops its own actuator systems because suitable motor and gear combinations are lacking. For robot skills, he describes simulation, transfer to real machines, demonstrations, and real-world practice as parts of a learning sequence.
Hurst says Digit V5 is expected at the end of 2026, with functional safety as a central focus. The goal is to let Digit work in existing human spaces without a cage, beginning with warehouse workflows and expanding deployments over the following year. He says removing physical barriers required about two years of design work across the legs, safe electronics and data systems, and sensors for detecting people.
Agility uses motion capture, remote operation, and animation to provide example movements that robots can imitate. Hurst distinguishes those methods from a robot learning conversational instructions and corrections on the fly, which he estimates is decades away. He connects that gap to the difficulty of making physical interactions reliable and safe.
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