AGCO Plans Humanoid-Robot Pilot at Kansas Factory
AGCO will pilot Agility Robotics’ Digit humanoid robot at its Hesston, Kansas, factory from 2027, beginning with parts sorting, stacking and tote placement.
Agricultural-equipment manufacturer AGCO will pilot humanoid robots at its Hesston, Kansas, production facility under a new commercial agreement with Agility Robotics.
The pilot is expected to begin in 2027 and will introduce Agility’s Digit robot into defined assembly and production workflows.
Initial tasks will include sorting and stacking parts and placing totes into storage. AGCO said these repetitive and physically demanding activities were selected to improve workplace ergonomics and allow employees to focus on more skilled work.
Digit is designed to operate in environments built for people. Its human-like form allows it to move through existing facilities and handle materials without requiring the extensive infrastructure associated with fixed automation.
Agility’s cloud-based Arc platform will manage the robots and their workflows. The company says this combination can help manufacturers introduce automation without undertaking major facility upgrades.
“This strategic relationship views humanoid robotics and AI as essential ‘teammates’ in building flexible, intelligent factories,” said Thomas Enghof, AGCO’s director of manufacturing technology.
“They unlock automation in complex, human-centric workflows, augmenting human capabilities by absorbing repetitive, strenuous or hazardous tasks.”
AGCO manufactures agricultural machinery and precision-agriculture technology under brands including Fendt, Massey Ferguson, PTx and Valtra. The Hesston facility will provide Agility with an opportunity to test Digit in an agricultural-equipment production environment, extending its use beyond the logistics and warehousing applications where humanoid robots have gained their earliest commercial traction.
AGCO joins Toyota, GXO and Schaeffler among the companies working with Agility Robotics. The robotics company reports that Digit has accumulated more than 65,000 hours of real-world operation, although the AGCO deployment remains a planned pilot rather than a proven production programme.
The companies have not disclosed the number of robots involved, the value or duration of the agreement, or the performance targets that will determine whether the programme expands beyond its initial workflows.
Those details will be important. The commercial test for humanoid robotics is whether it can deliver reliable productivity and safety improvements inside existing factories—not simply perform individual tasks in a controlled demonstration.
AGCO’s pilot will provide another practical measure of whether mobile, general-purpose robots can fill the gaps between manual work and conventional automation without forcing manufacturers to redesign their production environments.