The Digit, a humanoid robot, is already doing real work inside a chefler factory in the United States, not in testing, but in daily operation and this marks a quiet, but extremely significant turn. The Digit is responsible for a simple, repetitive and essential task. Transport baskets of around 11 kg with industrial components, taking parts from a press to a washing station.

The robot works about 8 hours a day, divided into shifts with breaks only for recharging. The most interesting thing is not the task itself, but what it represents, because this type of work has always been done by humans. Now, the employee who performed that function was reassigned to a more specialized activity, inspection, that is, in this case, and at least for now, the robot not only replaced a task, it redefined the role of the worker.

Today the operating cost of the Digit varies between 10 and $25 per hour, practically equivalent or even lower than the initial human salary in the factory which is around 20 per hour, but according to Agility Robotics itself, that cost can drop drastically, reaching only two or $ per hour, and this is where the equation changes completely, because when a machine manages to execute physical tasks with consistency in fatigue and with reduced cost, it stops being an innovation and becomes an inevitable economic decision.

For now, Digit still operates within an isolated area surrounded by a security structure, but that is also about to change, the next generation of the robot planned for this year should include advanced sensors capable of detecting humans in real time, allowing it to work side by side with people without physical barriers. This is one of the most important milestones in robotics, the “exit from the cage”, because from that moment on the robots stop being isolated machines and start sharing the same space with us.

The company is not betting on a single path, it has already signed alliances with different manufacturers of humanoid robots around the world, including companies in China, Europe and other emerging startups, in addition, it manufactures essential components of these machines such as actuators, positioning itself not only as users, but as part of the infrastructure of the new industrial era, this reveals something greater, the industry no longer debates whether humanoid robots are going to work, that phase has already passed. Now the question is another, how to scale this and how quickly will it replace repetitive human work?

Because while many people still see humanoid robberies as something distant, they are already working in silence, repeating movements, learning patterns and little by little assuming functions that were always human, but not all evolution of robotics is focused on creating complete machines, sometimes the most important advance is in mastering something much more specific and much more difficult.