In context
In March 2025, humanoid robotics was moving from lab demonstrations toward commercial deployment, with manufacturers seeking reliable automation for complex tasks. Agility Robotics' Digit, already deployed in warehouses, represented a leading example of a humanoid robot performing paid work, making its technology partnerships critical for scaling real-world adoption.
What was reported
Agility Robotics announced an expanded collaboration with Nvidia to enhance the capabilities of its humanoid robot, Digit. The company is broadening its use of Nvidia Isaac Sim and Isaac Lab, frameworks for robot simulation and learning, to train and test behaviors in physically-based virtual environments. This approach uses reinforcement learning to improve Digit's stability, such as step-recovery when pushed or bumped, with AI models trained across billions of instances.
Agility also received early access to Nvidia Cosmos, a platform of generative world foundation models, and the Mega Nvidia Omniverse Blueprint, which enables simulation and optimization of robot fleets in digital twins. The Mega blueprint is already being used with automotive manufacturer Schaeffler, where digital twins of facility items like bins and shelves help coordinate deployments.
Digit runs Nvidia's AI acceleration platform onboard for real-time perception and reinforcement-learned controllers, allowing it to process sensor data and make decisions in dynamic environments. Agility's CTO, Pras Velagapudi, noted the collaboration accelerates Digit's capability development, while Nvidia's Rev Lebaredian highlighted the significance of Agility's work in advancing Physical AI.
Why it mattered
This collaboration underscored the growing importance of simulation and digital twins in industrial robotics, enabling faster, safer training and deployment of humanoid robots. By integrating Nvidia's ecosystem, Agility aimed to scale Digit's use in factories and warehouses, potentially setting a precedent for how humanoid robots are trained and optimized for real-world manufacturing tasks.
“Nvidia’s focus on technologies to enable physical AI is helping us advance the capabilities of Digit faster than ever.”
Source: Robotics & Automation News (roboticsandautomationnews.com) · Published 2025-03-28 · “Agility Robotics expands relationship with Nvidia”