Humanoid maker Agility Robotics to go public through SPAC merger
google — the Digit humanoid robot is already at work at several commercial customers. today said that it has agreed to merge with special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, Churchill Capital Corp.
It claimed that it will become “the only U.S. publicly listed pure-play humanoid company with proven, active commercial deployments.” Agility developed bipedal research platform Cassie and humanoid robot Digit, which is now in commercial trials. The Salem, Ore.-based company said it expects the SPAC transaction to provide more than $620 million in gross proceeds for a valuation of $2.5 billion in pre-money equity. “Humanoid robots are a critical driver of American technology leadership and the future of global industry,” stated Peggy Johnson, CEO of Agility Robotics. “With category-defining commercially deployed humanoid robots operating in real customer environments today, Agility is at the forefront of a new era where safety-first, AI-powered technology can reliably work alongside people to bridge labor shortages, increase productivity, and strengthen the resilience of our supply chains.” “We believe humanoids are at a meaningful inflection point in commercial adoption, and we are focused on meeting growing customer demand, expanding deployments, and advancing our roadmap across robotics, physical AI, safety systems, and enterprise software,” she added. “As adoption accelerates, we believe Agility is positioned to address a market opportunity across manufacturing, distribution, and logistics environments in the United States that is estimated by management to be approximately $1 trillion.” “Companies don’t buy tech; they buy solutions,” said Johnson during a investor briefing. “At Agility, we’re doing just that. That’s missing from the headlines about AI — companies still have to solve real physical problems.” Submit your session idea for the 2026 RoboBusiness Agility develops ‘cooperatively safe’ humanoid robot Dr. Jonathan Hurst, Dr. Damion Shelton, and Mikhail Jones spun Agility Robotics out of Oregon State University‘s Dynamic Robotics Laboratory in 2015. Since then, the company has focused on advancing humanoids from research and development into real-world commercial deployment, building expertise across robotics, physical AI, safety systems, and enterprise automation. “We set out to build robots capable of performing useful physical work in environments designed for people, and that mission has been central to Agility from Day 1,” said Jonathan Hurst, co-founder and chief robot officer of Agility. “We believe cooperative safety is the critical unlock for scaled humanoid adoption, and our next generation Digit represents an important milestone toward a future where robots become trusted partners in the workplace.” “We looked at hundreds of applications,” he recalled. “We realized that picking up bins and totes is an awfully good beachhead market.” Agility said its executive team has more than 80 years of combined commercial leadership and over 50 years of technical robotics experience. Chief Technology Officer Pras Velagapudi participated in a keynote panel discussion at the Robotics Summit & Expo last month about the state of humanoid robot design.
