Toyota Canada to deploy humanoid robots at SUV plant for assembly work

Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada (TMMC) plans to deploy seven Digit humanoid robots from Oregon-based Agility Robotics at its SUV plant to assist with logistics and supply chain tasks, particularly unloading auto-parts totes from automated warehouse tuggers. This deployment follows a successful pilot and operates under a Robots-as-a-Service (RaaS) agreement aimed at enhancing operational efficiency and improving the team member experience. Alongside the robots, Agility Robotics will implement its cloud-based automation platform, Agility Arc, which uses AI to manage robot fleets, reduce deployment costs, and enable the robots to learn and adapt to new manufacturing workflows without requiring facility overhauls. The collaboration between TMMC and Agility Robotics aims to explore further applications of humanoid robots to reduce repetitive and physically taxing tasks in automotive manufacturing, thereby improving worker safety and productivity. While current robots like Digit require human supervision for heavy-lifting tasks, Agility Robotics is developing a next-generation cooperatively safe humanoid robot designed to work alongside humans