Digit 5 vs Digit: What Agility Changed and Why

Digit 5 almost doubles the mass of the current Agility Digit, from 65 kg to 129 kg, and gets 42% more payload for it: 22.7 kg against 16 kg. Runtime falls from about 240 minutes to 90. Agility, which showed the robot on 15 September 2026, is betting that a 9-minute recharge matters more on a warehouse floor than a long battery. For anyone planning a 2027 deployment, that bet changes how you count robots per shift.

The numbers below come from Agility's 15 September 2026 announcement (also reported by Bloomberg and The Robot Report) and from our catalog, last verified on 26 September 2026.

The spec sheet, side by side

Digit 5 is not an incremental update. It is a heavier, stronger robot with a different energy strategy. The two closest US alternatives for tote handling, Boston Dynamics Atlas and Apptronik Apollo, are in the table for scale.

| Metric | Digit (current) | Digit 5 | Atlas (Electric) | Apollo | |---|---|---|---|---| | Height | 175 cm | 181 cm | 190 cm | 173 cm | | Weight | 65 kg | 129 kg | 90 kg | 72.6 kg | | Payload | 16 kg | 22.7 kg | 30 kg sustained, 50 kg instant | 25 kg | | Runtime | ~240 min | 90 min | 240 min | 240 min | | Recharge | not published | 9 min | self-swapping battery | not published | | Degrees of freedom | 28 | not published | 56 | not published | | Price | RaaS, ~$250,000 purchase equivalent | not published | ~$420,000 (estimate), not sold openly | no public price | | Availability | deployed (GXO, Amazon) | early access H1 2027, GA end 2027 | select customers | pilots only |

Two numbers stand out. Height grows by only 6 cm while mass grows by 64 kg. And Digit 5 carries 0.18 kg of payload per kilogram of its own mass, against 0.25 for the current Digit, 0.33 for Atlas and 0.34 for Apollo. Agility's release does not say where the extra mass went. The cooperative safety claim and the larger payload both need structure, and structure weighs something.

90 minutes is short, and Agility knows it

A 90-minute runtime would look like a regression on any spec comparison site, ours included. Agility pairs it with a 9-minute charge. One cycle is 99 minutes, of which 90 are work: about 91% of the robot's time on task.

Over an 8-hour shift that is four full cycles and most of a fifth, roughly 435 minutes of work. The current Digit runs about 240 minutes per charge, but Agility does not publish how long it takes to recharge, and the battery is not hot-swappable. So the honest comparison is not 90 against 240. It is a known duty cycle against an unknown one.

The trade-off has a cost that the spec sheet does not show: charging infrastructure. A robot that docks every hour and a half needs a charger within a short walk of its work cell, and a fleet needs enough docks that robots do not queue. Atlas solves the same problem differently: Boston Dynamics says it walks to a station and swaps its own battery, with 4 hours per pack. Apollo publishes 240 minutes and no charge time.

Why a heavier robot now

The payload jump explains most of the redesign. At 16 kg the current Digit handles standard totes, which is what it does at GXO and Amazon sites. Anything heavier is out of reach. At 22.7 kg, or 50 lb, Digit 5 moves into the heavier end of case handling that the current robot has to leave to people.

The second driver is safety. Agility calls Digit 5 "cooperatively safe", meaning it is designed to work next to people without a cage or fenced cell. For a warehouse this is worth more than the payload increase. A fenced cell costs floor space and forces the operator to design the process around the robot. A robot that can share an aisle with pickers can be dropped into an existing layout.

Heavier robots are harder to make safe around people, not easier. A 129 kg machine that falls hurts more than a 65 kg one. We read the mass increase as the price of a sturdier frame, sensing and a control margin that let Agility make the safety claim at all. Until Agility publishes the standard it certified against, treat "cooperatively safe" as a design goal rather than a certificate.

Digit 5 against Atlas and Apollo

On paper Atlas beats Digit 5 on every physical number: 30 kg sustained payload, 4 hours per battery, 56 degrees of freedom, and a battery it changes itself. The catch is access. Boston Dynamics does not sell Atlas openly. Early units go to Hyundai, whose Metaplant in Georgia has run an Atlas training center since September 2026, and to select partners. Hyundai plans 25,000 units, most of them for its own plants. Our estimate of ~$420,000 per unit is an enterprise figure, not a quote. See the Atlas vs Digit comparison for the full sheet.

Apollo sits between the two Digits on payload, at 25 kg, and matches the current Digit on runtime. It has the best field result of the three: Mercedes-Benz reported a 14% throughput gain over a six-month pilot in Berlin (April 2026). But Apollo is still pilot-only, at Mercedes-Benz, GXO and Jabil. Apollo 2, shown in June 2026, is a data-collection platform for Apptronik's own use, not a product. Apptronik calls Apollo 3, due in 2027, its first commercial robot. The Digit vs Apollo comparison lays out the current models.

That leaves an odd picture for 2027. Three US humanoids target the same tote-and-case work, and all three have their commercial versions arriving that year. Digit 5 has the clearest dates (early access H1, general availability at year end) and the only published order book: more than $300M on multi-year contracts.

What changes for the current Digit

Nothing, in the short term. The current Digit stays in service under RaaS contracts at GXO and Amazon sites, and Agility has not announced an end of support. The Robot Report also notes that Agility is exploring wheeled platforms, which suggests the company does not see one body as the answer for every site.

The practical question for current customers is contract length. A RaaS agreement signed in late 2026 will run into Digit 5 availability. It is worth asking now whether the contract allows a swap to the new model, on what terms, and whether the price per robot-hour changes when payload grows by 42% and the charging layout changes with it.

What to do if you need a robot in 2027

If the work fits under 16 kg and you can run it in a separated zone, the current Digit is the only one of the four robots in the table you can put under a standard commercial contract today. Sign for 12 to 18 months and negotiate an upgrade path, not a long lock-in.

If your cases run heavier, or the robot has to work in open aisles next to people, waiting for Digit 5 early access is the more rational move than forcing the current model into a job it was not built for. Budget for chargers alongside the robots: at 90 minutes per charge, dock placement is part of the process design, not an afterthought. Our warehouse TCO breakdown covers the other line items.

Atlas makes sense only if you are close to Hyundai's supply chain or have a direct relationship with Boston Dynamics. Apollo makes sense if you can join a pilot and wait for Apollo 3. For most warehouse operators buying in 2027, the realistic choice is between the Digit you can rent now and the Digit 5 you can reserve.