Insider Brief
- Agility Robotics announced that Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada has signed a commercial agreement to deploy its humanoid robot Digit in vehicle assembly plants following a successful pilot.
- According to Agility Robotics, Digit will support manufacturing, supply chain and logistics operations, targeting repetitive and physically demanding tasks to improve safety and operational efficiency.
- TMMC joins other large enterprises including GXO, Schaeffler and Amazon in deploying Digit, as Agility expands commercial humanoid robotics adoption in industrial environments.
Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada is moving from pilot to production with Agility Robotics’ humanoid robot, Digit.
Agility Robotics announced TMMC has signed a Robots-as-a-Service agreement to deploy Digit in its Canadian vehicle assembly plants following a successful trial. The robot will support manufacturing, supply chain and logistics operations, handling repetitive and physically demanding tasks on the factory floor.
TMMC, Toyota’s largest manufacturing operation outside Japan, operates assembly plants in Cambridge and Woodstock, Ontario.
“Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada has long been a leader in automotive manufacturing innovation,” Tim Hollander Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada President said in the announcement. “After evaluating a number of robots, we are excited to deploy Digit to improve the team member experience and further increase operational efficiency in our manufacturing facilities.”
According to Agility Robotics, TMMC evaluated multiple robotic systems before selecting Digit. The companies plan to continue assessing additional use cases, particularly in areas where automation could reduce strain and improve safety for workers on automotive production lines, Agility indicated. The focus is on augmenting employees rather than replacing them, shifting some of the most monotonous tasks to machines while freeing people for higher-value work.
The Oregon-based Agility Robotics touts Digit as a general-purpose humanoid built for logistics and manufacturing environments. The robot is designed to integrate into existing facilities without major retrofits, using AI to adapt to changing workflows. Agility also offers Agility Arc, a cloud-based platform for deploying and managing fleets of Digit robots.
TMMC joins a growing roster of large enterprises working with Agility, including GXO, Schaeffler and Amazon, as manufacturers and logistics providers test humanoid systems in real-world operations. Agility Robotics, headquartered in Salem, Oregon, with additional offices in Pittsburgh and San Jose, has been expanding commercial deployments amid ongoing labor shortages in industrial roles.
Toyota agreement marks another step in moving humanoid robotics from controlled pilots into scaled factory environments, where safety, reliability and integration with existing processes remain critical benchmarks for broader adoption, Agility noted.
“Toyota is one of the premier companies in the world; one with a long history of innovation and success, so it’s a privilege to join forces to integrate humanoid robotic solutions like Digit into automotive production,” said Peggy Johnson, Agility Robotics’ CEO. “I look forward to continuing our work with Toyota to identify all the ways that Digit can help the employees working at their production facilities. With our next generation of Digit, we will be the first company to deliver the first cooperatively safe humanoid robot to work alongside people, allowing companies like Toyota to scale their use of humanoids well beyond what is possible today.”
Image credit: Agility Robotics
