Agility Robotics, the company behind the humanoid robot Digit, has been named to TIME magazine’s 2024 Best Inventions list. The annual list highlights 200 innovations that TIME editors and global correspondents identified as impactful and groundbreaking. Agility Robotics’ Digit, a bipedal mobile manipulation robot, was noted as the first humanoid robot commercially deployed in a work environment, following a multi-year agreement with GXO Logistics, a large-scale contract logistics provider.
Peggy Johnson, CEO of Agility Robotics, expressed pride in the recognition from TIME, underscoring the company’s goal of addressing labor shortages by designing robots capable of handling challenging, physically demanding tasks. According to Johnson, humanoid robots like Digit are positioned to take on roles that require endurance or involve hazardous tasks, which are often difficult to fill in today’s labor market.
TIME selected this year’s inventions based on several factors, including originality, efficacy, ambition, and impact. The 2024 list reflects a wide range of innovations in fields like healthcare, artificial intelligence, and environmental technology. In its announcement, TIME editors described the list as comprising “groundbreaking inventions” that are altering “how we live, work, play, and think about what’s possible.”
