Agility Robotics

In a recent TED Talk, Agility co-founder Jonathan Hurst outlined a grounded but massively ambitious roadmap for embodied AI, pushing back against the industry’s rush toward domestic androids.

While startups race to promise domestic androids by late 2026, industry pioneer Agility outlines the massive gaps in data, safety, and economics that keep robots confined to the factory floor.

What began as a one-shift challenge has evolved into a multi-day endurance test for Figure’s Helix-02 neural network, as the company’s "Bob, Frank, and Gary" units attempt to hold the line under the gaze of thousands of live viewers.

As major U.S. robotics firms shift from prototypes to mass production, a clear divide is emerging between the maturity of mechanical hardware and the intelligence of the AI driving it.

Agility CEO Peggy Johnson details the transition from caged "work cells" to open floor operations, a new 50-pound lift capacity for the next-generation Digit, and plans for a late-2026 funding round.