In a Salem factory on a Tuesday afternoon, Digit the robot is being tested. The humanlike robot uses its two legs to walk up to a storage bin. Digit’s two arms reach for the bin, and its clawlike hands grip the sides. The robot gracefully lifts the storage box up so it’s level with its torso. Digit turns so that its head — which looks similar to a small projector with a white screen — faces the storage bin’s intended location. As part of its testing to work in warehouses for companies like Amazon, the robot then slowly uses its two legs with flat, rectangular feet, to walk the bin to its new spot. It bends down slightly, with knees moving the opposite direction from a real human’s, and sets down the bin before returning to pick up another box. And, Digit blinks. “When a robot is standing still, it can balance much better than a person does,” Jonathan Hurst, Agility Robotics co-founder and Oregon State University robotics professor, explained. “It doesn’t sway or move or anything, and a lot of times people will unconsciously register it as an inanimate object, like a chair or a table. Then when it moves, it’s a big surprise.” Hurst has found that in general, people don’t like that. But when the robot makes small movements — or when the screen acting as Digit’s face illuminates what looks like two blinking eyes — it can help people feel more comfortable working alongside it, Hurst said.

Full story : Agility Robotics, in collaboration with Oregon State University, recently opened a Salem facility to test and enhance a humanlike robot.

For more see the OODA Company Profile on Agility Robotics.