Humanoid Robotics Firm Prepares for Public Debut as CEO Says Home Robots Are Still Years Away

Investment in the humanoid robotics sector continues to surge. Just last week, Shenzhen-based AI2 Robotics, which develops wheeled humanoid robots, raised approximately $735 million at a valuation approaching $3 billion. Earlier this year, Austin-based Apptronik secured $935 million in funding, valuing the humanoid robot maker at more than $5.5 billion. Meanwhile, last autumn, Figure AI, the San Jose startup building general-purpose humanoid robots, announced it had completed a $1 billion Series C funding round, valuing the company at an impressive $39 billion.

Against that backdrop, Agility Robotics CEO Peggy Johnson is taking a noticeably more cautious approach. Speaking shortly after Agility announced plans to go public through a merger with Michael Klein’s Churchill Capital Corp XI, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), Johnson avoided making sweeping promises about the future of humanoid robots. The proposed transaction values Agility Robotics at roughly $2.5 billion. It is expected to generate more than $620 million in gross proceeds, making it the largest capital raise in the history of humanoid robotics. The deal has not yet closed and remains subject to shareholder approval and review by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, with completion expected later this year.

Founded in 2015 as a spinout from Oregon State University, Agility Robotics is headquartered in Salem, Oregon, where it develops bipedal humanoid robots designed primarily for warehouse and manufacturing environments. If the transaction is completed, Agility will become the first publicly traded company focused entirely on humanoid robotics, providing retail investors with direct exposure to a sector that has so far been dominated by venture capital funding. The listing also offers a rare glimpse into the financial performance of a robotics company operating in an industry where competitors typically reveal very little about either their business or technology.

Johnson, who previously served as Executive Vice President of Business Development at Microsoft—where she played a key role in the company’s $26 billion acquisition of LinkedIn—and later led augmented reality company Magic Leap as CEO, remained measured throughout the discussion. She declined to provide financial forecasts, would not reveal the manufacturing cost of Agility’s flagship robot Digit, and consistently avoided speculating about future developments.

When asked why Agility chose the SPAC route rather than pursuing another private funding round or a traditional initial public offering, Johnson cited the advantage of becoming the first publicly listed company dedicated entirely to humanoid robotics. She described the decision as both “an acceleration story and a timing story,” noting that investors eager to gain exposure to the growing robotics market now have that opportunity. The capital raised through the merger will also support increased production at the company’s 70,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Salem while helping fulfil its existing customer order pipeline.

Johnson also dismissed concerns surrounding the reputation of SPACs. Many businesses that went public through similar mergers during 2021 later struggled or now trade well below their listing prices. She said Agility’s focus remains on execution rather than market volatility.

“If we just keep our heads down, keep delivering customer by customer, robot by robot, we hopefullywon’tt 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.”

According to Johnson, Agility’s commercial pipeline extends well beyond pilot projects. The company has already secured more than $300 million in contracted multi-year revenue, representing approximately 1,000 robots deployed under a robotics-as-a-service model, in which customers pay recurring monthly fees rather than purchasing the robots outright.

“Everybody on our list right now is already vetted, and they have deployment plans behind their proof of concepts,” Johnson said.

Current customers include GXO Logistics, Amazon, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada, Schaeffler, and Mercado Libre.

The Digitt itself has been intentionally designed with practicality, rather than human appearance, as the primary objective. The robot stands roughly 5 feet 9 inches tall, weighs around 160 pounds, and has been engineered specifically to move heavy objects efficiently inside warehouses and factories. One of its defining design features is its reverse-bending knees—often described as “bird legs”—which enable it to lift containers from floor level to overhead shelves without striking warehouse racking. Johnson explained that the company’s founders never intended to imitate human anatomy purely for the sake of appearance. Likewise, DDigit’shands, featuring two thumbs and two fingers, are specifically designed to securely grip heavy plastic storage totes, even as loads shift during transport.

Johnson also explained that Agility remains “LLM-agnostic,” using multiple large language models, including Claude and Gemini, to interpret high-level instructions before translating them into robotic actions. She described a recent demonstration in which engineers scattered various pieces of rubbish across the floor before instructing Digitt to “clean up this mess.” The robot successfully sorted every item into the appropriate bins, including correctly identifying bubble wrap as non-recyclable.

However, Johnson stressed that Agility’s true competitive advantage lies in the robot’s physical capabilities rather than its AI software. She argued that while large language models have benefited from training on enormous amounts of internet data, comparable datasets for physical robotics remain extremely limited.

“The LLMs had the entire internet to train on,” she said. “When you think about the physical AI of humanoids—that doesn’t quite exist yet.”

Johnson believes Agility has built one of the industry’s strongest advantages through more than a decade of real-world operational data.

“We may have the largest data lake of actual operating robotics data in real-world environments,” she said.

Beyond data collection, Johnson said safety is the biggest distinction between Agility and many of its competitors. While several robotics companies demonstrate their machines primarily through carefully staged videos or laboratory environments, Agility’s robots must meet industrial safety certification standards before they can operate inside customer facilities.

“You can’t build your robot and then make it safe,” Johnson explained. “That’s a redesign. You have to have all of the safety certifications—the electrical system, all of the parts, and the software to support all of that.”

The emphasis on safety comes amid broader industry scrutiny. In November, Figure AI’s former head of product safety filed a lawsuit alleging he was dismissed after raising concerns that the company’s robots were powerful enough to fracture a human skull. Figure AI has denied those allegations.

Looking beyond warehouses, Johnson believes humanoid robots will eventually find their way into homes, but she cautioned that such deployments remain a long-term goal rather than an imminent reality.

She estimated that home robots are still “10-plus years” away, explaining that warehouses and factories, despite their complexity, offer structured environments with predictable layouts, equipment, and workflows. Homes, by comparison, contain children, pets, visitors, and constantly changing surroundings that make autonomous navigation significantly more difficult.

“At least roads have some discipline to them,” Johnson said while comparing the challenge to self-driving vehicles. “Most of the areas that humanoids will be operating in don’t.”

Although Agility has not ruled out entering the consumer market in the future, Johnson said the company’s immediate focus remains firmly on industrial customers. She pointed to labour shortages across warehouses and manufacturing facilities, driven by retiring workers and declining interest among younger generations in physically demanding jobs.

“There are over a million jobs in the US today in these areas that are unfilled,” Johnson said. “They’re just very, very hard to hire for.”