Digit lost its bird legs! 🦿 @agilityrobotics released Digit 5 today, and the most visible change is the knees. The ostrich-style backwards legs are gone, replaced with human-like ones. Jonathan Hurst, co-founder and chief robot officer, was explicit that this wasn't a move toward looking more human: 💬 "The previous leg configuration was really optimized for very good walking and running. The new configuration is optimized for lifting heavy things and getting up and down off the ground a lot." The same logic shows up in the hands, where the argument gets I would say even sharper. He says general-purpose hands don't exist, aren't on the market, and aren't coming soon. His evidence is Cybathlon, where amputees compete at manipulation tasks using prosthetics. The winner two years running used a single-degree-of-freedom parallel-jaw gripper with one rotation at the wrist, beating competitors with five-fingered hands. So Digit 5 runs a two-finger gripper, swappable through ISO-standard mounting flanges: → Repeatable lifts up to 22.7 kg on proprietary cycloidal actuators, covering single-person lift tasks in OSHA-regulated facilities → 90 minutes of work, 9 minutes to full charge. A 10:1 run-to-charge ratio, up from 2:1 on Digit 4, which puts it past 20 working hours in a 24-hour day → 129 kg, 1.81 m tall, reaching to 2.2 m, up from 1.68 m → 360° person detection with no fixed safety zones. It slows, stops, or sits down and cuts motor power before anyone can touch it, with an independent safety controller overseeing the response First commercial availability outside North America, starting with the EU and UK, CE mark expected. Early access in H1 2027, general availability by the end of 2027. ~~  ♻️ Join the weekly robotics newsletter, and never miss any news →