Agility Robotics is set to become the first humanoid robot company to trade on public markets, but its CEO is tempering expectations about when these machines will enter everyday homes. The Salem, Oregon-based company announced plans to merge with Churchill Capital Corp XI, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), in a deal valuing Agility at around $2.5 billion and expected to raise more than $620 million in gross proceeds. This represents the largest capital raise in humanoid robotics history, yet the company's leadership remains focused on a narrower, more immediate market: warehouses and factories.

The timing is notable. The humanoid robotics sector has attracted unprecedented investment in recent months. AI2 Robotics, a Shenzhen-based startup, raised roughly $735 million at a nearly $3 billion valuation last week. Apptronik, an Austin-based manufacturer of warehouse robots, closed a $935 million funding round valuing the company at more than $5.5 billion earlier this year. Figure AI, a San Jose startup, reported closing a $1 billion Series C round at a $39 billion valuation last fall. By contrast, Agility's approach under CEO Peggy Johnson, formerly executive vice president of business development at Microsoft and later CEO of Magic Leap, reflects a more measured strategy.

What sets Agility apart from competitors is not just its public market debut, but also the rare financial transparency it offers. Most humanoid robotics companies closely guard their numbers and technical details. Agility's SPAC filing will expose the company's finances to public scrutiny, giving retail investors direct exposure to a sector previously accessible mainly to venture capital funds. Johnson explained that going public via SPAC offers a first-mover advantage in the humanoid robotics space, positioning Agility as "an acceleration story and a timing story" for investors seeking exposure to the buzzy sector.

Johnson

What Makes Agility's Digit Robot Different?

Agility's flagship robot, Digit, is deliberately designed for a specific purpose rather than general-purpose humanoid tasks. Standing about 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighing around 160 pounds, Digit is optimized to move heavy objects in warehouse and factory environments. Its most distinctive feature is a set of reverse-bend knees, sometimes called "bird legs," that allow the robot to reach from floor level to overhead shelving without colliding with warehouse racking. The robot's hands feature two thumbs and two fingers, optimized specifically for gripping heavy plastic totes even as their contents shift during transport.

The company has already secured substantial customer commitments. Agility has more than $300 million in booked, multi-year revenue representing roughly 1,000 robots operating under a robots-as-a-service model, where customers pay monthly fees rather than purchasing machines outright. Current customers include GXO Logistics, Amazon, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada, Schaeffler, and Mercado Libre. Johnson emphasized that all customers on the company's list are already vetted and have deployment plans behind their proof-of-concept phases.

How Does Agility's AI Approach Work?

Agility takes what Johnson calls an "LLM-agnostic" approach to artificial intelligence, drawing on large language models (LLMs) including Claude and Gemini to handle what she describes as the semantic layer, translating high-level instructions into robot behavior. In a recent test, engineers scattered different types of trash on the floor and instructed Digit simply to "clean up this mess." The robot assessed, sorted, and binned everything correctly, including properly identifying bubble wrap as non-recyclable. However, Johnson stressed that the company's core proprietary advantage lies in the physical layer, not the AI.

"The LLMs had the entire internet to train on. When you think about the physical AI of humanoids, that doesn't quite exist yet," Johnson explained.

Peggy Johnson, CEO of Agility Robotics

Johnson believes Agility may possess the largest data lake of actual operating robotics data in real-world environments. This operational experience, accumulated over more than a decade of real-world deployment, represents a significant competitive moat. Safety certification is another area where Johnson argues Agility has built a substantial advantage over competitors who primarily showcase robots in lab demonstrations and choreographed videos.

Why Safety Standards Give Agility an Edge?

Operating robots inside actual customer facilities requires meeting rigorous industrial safety certification requirements. Johnson noted that safety cannot be retrofitted after a robot is built; it must be designed into every component from the start. This includes electrical systems, mechanical parts, and software. The distinction matters because humans often work in the same spaces as these robots, creating genuine safety risks. In November, Figure AI's former head of product safety sued the company, alleging he was fired after raising concerns that its robots were powerful enough to fracture a human skull. Figure disputed the claims, but the incident underscores the stakes involved.

"You can't build your robot and then make it safe. That's a redesign. You have to have all of the safety certified, the electrical system, all of the parts, and the software to support all of that," Johnson stated.

Peggy Johnson, CEO of Agility Robotics

When Will Humanoid Robots Enter Homes?

Johnson's most striking claim concerns the timeline for home robots. She believes humanoids will eventually reach residential markets, but not for at least 10 years or more. The challenge, she explained, is that warehouses and factories, despite their complexity, have fixed aisles, predictable equipment, and standardized workflows. Homes, by contrast, are chaotic environments filled with dogs, babies, visitors, and objects left in unexpected places. Johnson compared the challenge to autonomous vehicles, noting that "most of the areas that humanoids will be operating in don't" have the discipline of roads.

She

For now, Agility remains laser-focused on the warehouse and logistics market. The company points to a significant labor shortage as its primary opportunity. Johnson noted that there are over one million unfilled jobs in the United States in physically demanding warehouse and logistics roles, positions that are difficult to recruit for because younger workers are increasingly unwilling to take such roles.

Steps to Understanding Agility's Market Strategy

• Customer Acquisition Model: Rather than selling robots outright, Agility uses a robots-as-a-service approach where customers pay monthly fees, reducing upfront capital barriers and creating predictable recurring revenue streams.
• Safety-First Design: Unlike competitors showcasing lab demos, Agility builds safety certification into every component from the start, meeting industrial standards required for human-robot collaboration in actual work environments.
• Specialized Hardware: Digit is purpose-built for warehouse tasks with reverse-bend knees and specialized grippers, rather than attempting to be a general-purpose humanoid robot that does many things adequately.
• Data Advantage: Over a decade of real-world deployment has given Agility access to operational robotics data that competitors lack, providing insights into how robots actually perform in production environments.

The SPAC merger, expected to close later in 2026, still requires shareholder approval and SEC review. Johnson acknowledged the troubled reputation of SPACs, noting that many companies that went public via this structure in 2021 either failed entirely or traded well below their offering price. However, she expressed confidence that Agility can avoid this volatility by executing consistently. "If we just keep our head down, keep delivering customer by customer, robot by robot, we hopefully won't experience the same volatility," Johnson said. "Our biggest competitor right now is just us. How quickly we can execute, how quickly we can continue to add new skills".

Johnson