GXO Logistics and Agility Robotics on October 26, 2026 announced an expansion of their partnership that will deploy Agility’s Digit humanoid robots to GXO logistics sites in North Carolina and Tennessee, with deployments expected to begin in early 2027.
The Expanded Agreement
Under the expanded agreement, Digit will take on e-commerce fulfillment work at GXO’s Statesville and Lebanon sites in North Carolina and Tennessee, handling what the companies described as highly repetitive material-handling tasks. The companies said deployments are expected to begin in early 2027 with Digit 4 and will migrate to Digit 5 once that model becomes commercially available.
The companies said the expansion builds on GXO’s approach of advancing warehouse automation through practical implementation at scale, and that it underscores a shared commitment to accelerating innovation through real-world application and continuous learning. According to the announcement, GXO partners with technology developers to evaluate, refine and roll out emerging solutions in live operating environments. The joint announcement was datelined Greenwich, Connecticut, and Salem, Oregon.
Partnership History at Flowery Branch
The partnership began with a proof-of-concept pilot at GXO’s Flowery Branch, Georgia, site in late 2023. The companies formalized the relationship in June 2024 with a multi-year Robots-as-a-Service agreement, under which GXO deployed Digit robots together with Agility Arc, Agility’s cloud platform for managing robot fleets and integrating them into customer operations. The companies describe the 2024 agreement as the industry’s first formal commercial deployment of humanoid robots in live operations and the first Robots-as-a-Service agreement for humanoid robots.
At the Georgia facility, Digit operates alongside existing automation, moving totes and placing them onto conveyors. The companies report that Digit has moved more than 100,000 totes there since the 2024 deployment, a figure they said demonstrates the robot’s reliability on repetitive material-handling work in a live logistics environment.
Statements From Both CEOs
GXO chief executive Patrick Kelleher said the expansion reflects confidence that the technology can deliver measurable value for customers and improve the working environment for employees. He said the partnership has been defined by a shared effort to turn emerging technologies into practical advantages in live operations, and that innovation matters most when it produces practical solutions that benefit both customers and teams.
Agility Robotics chief executive Peggy Johnson said customers have moved past asking whether humanoid robots can work and are now deciding where to scale them. “GXO was the first customer to put Digit to work in live operations under a commercial agreement, and expanding to additional sites is the clearest signal that the value is real,” Johnson said. She added that years of performing real work in GXO’s operations have shaped how Agility builds, deploys and supports Digit, and that the company remains focused on disciplined execution as the partnership grows.
Digit 5, Manufacturing Scale and Public Listing
According to the companies, Digit has accumulated more than 65,000 hours of real-world operation across its commercial operations and customer programs. Agility said that operating experience informed Digit 5, its next-generation robot, which was unveiled on September 15, 2026. The company said Digit 5 is designed to operate safely in close proximity to people and will take on a broader set of industrial workflows.
Agility said it has invested in manufacturing, deployment and support infrastructure to enable broader commercial adoption of humanoid robots. The company pointed to RoboFab, its 70,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Salem, Oregon, with a designed annual production capacity of up to 10,000 robots, as well as the Agility Arc platform and expanded software, deployment and service capabilities, including a recently announced Pittsburgh expansion.
Agility is also preparing to become a public company through its planned business combination with Churchill Capital Corp XI. A joint registration statement on Form S-4 filed in connection with the proposed transaction was declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission on October 13, 2026. The companies expect the business combination to close in the fourth quarter of 2026, after which the combined company will operate as Agility Robotics and is expected to trade on Nasdaq.
Credit: Source link
