Agility Robotics and logistics group GXO plan to add Digit humanoid robots at warehouses in North Carolina and Tennessee from early 2027, expanding a deployment already operating in Georgia. The move gives Digit two more real-world sites for repetitive material-moving work, a more useful test than another laboratory demonstration.
Watch Desk analysis
What happened
The companies say Digit will work at GXO facilities in Statesville, North Carolina, and Lebanon, Tennessee, initially using the Digit 4 model before switching to Digit 5 when it becomes commercially available. The robots are intended to handle repetitive material-moving tasks in e-commerce fulfilment.
The expansion builds on work at GXO’s Flowery Branch, Georgia, site. The report says the companies have worked together there since a proof-of-concept pilot in late 2023, and that Digit has moved more than 100,000 totes at the facility. Agility says Digit has logged more than 65,000 hours across its commercial deployments and customer programmes.
Why it matters
Two additional operating sites mean more chances to see how humanoid robots fit into busy warehouse work beyond a single location. Digit is meant to work alongside existing automation, moving totes and placing them on conveyors. The practical questions are less cinematic than a robot walking into frame, but more important: whether it can do the job reliably, integrate with warehouse systems and justify the cost.
Our read
This is a substantive expansion of a commercial robotics deployment, not proof that humanoid robots are ready to take over warehouses. The useful signal is that GXO and Agility are taking the machines to more sites and specifying the work they will do. The next measure of progress should be results from those operations, not another round of impressive robot footage.
What to watch
- Whether the North Carolina and Tennessee deployments begin on the planned early-2027 timetable.
- When the sites move from Digit 4 to Digit 5, and what changes in practice.
- Whether the companies share comparable figures on uptime, tote handling and the human work around the robots.
Discussion spark: What should a warehouse operator have to prove, in reliability and cost, before humanoid robots count as a practical success rather than an impressive pilot?
Sources and evidence
- GXO, Agility Robotics Expand Digit Humanoid Deployments to Two More U.S. Warehouses (26 October 2026, 15:34 UTC)
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