While you were complaining about your commute, Agility Robotics, Inc.’s Digit humanoid quietly clocked in for its 8-hour shift at a Schaeffler Group factory in Cheraw, South Carolina. The bipedal robot is now a card-carrying member of the workforce, hauling 25-pound baskets of bearing components from stamping presses to a conveyor belt without a single coffee break. It’s the kind of monotonous, repetitive grunt work that Digit was built for.
This isn’t some weekend internship. The deployment is part of a landmark agreement where German automotive and industrial supplier Schaeffler not only took a minority stake in Agility but also committed to purchasing a significant number of Digit robots for its global network of approximately 100 manufacturing plants by 2030. The pilot programs kicked off in 2025, and now they’re transitioning into full-time gigs.
The 5-foot-9, 143-pound humanoid is part of Schaeffler’s broader strategy to tackle labor shortages and boost efficiency through automation, which also involves partnerships with NVIDIA for AI and simulation. And Schaeffler isn’t the only one taking notice; Digit is becoming quite the hot commodity in industrial circles, with other giants like GXO Logistics, Amazon, and even Toyota Puts Agility's Digit Humanoids on the Payroll in Canada putting the robot to work in their own facilities.
Why is this important?
This moves the humanoid robot conversation from “if” to “how many?” Schaeffler’s large-scale commitment signals a critical transition from flashy tech demos to real-world industrial integration aimed at solving tangible problems like chronic labor shortages. While other companies are still running pilots, Schaeffler is writing purchase orders and integrating humanoids into daily operations. This isn’t a future-of-work PowerPoint slide; it’s the factory floor of today, and Digit is already on the schedule for the next shift.
