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The Agility Robotics Digit SDK is the official programming stack for the Digit humanoid robot — a bipedal warehouse robot 175 cm tall, ~65 kg, with 'manipulators' (effectively grippers) instead of hands. Digit is designed from the ground up for logistics tasks: moving totes (~16 kg), loading/unloading trailers, palletizing, and picking from shelves of dynamic height.
The SDK rests on three layers: (1) **Agility Arc** — a cloud-based fleet management platform (web app + REST API) for managing Digit fleets, coordinating with WMS/MES, and monitoring KPIs (uptime, throughput, cycle times). (2) **Digit API** — JSON-RPC over WebSocket on the robot's local network, exposing high-level actions: `place_object`, `pick_object`, `walk_to_location`, `dock_at_station` (waypoint-based navigation with docking to charging stations). (3) **Low-level Python/C++ SDK** for developers — direct access to joint states (28 DOF), the bipedal locomotion controller (based on OSU's Cassie research), and joint force/torque. Documentation at `docs.agilityrobotics.com`.
Digit runs **Agility OS** — a proprietary RTOS on an embedded NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin 64 GB in the robot's chest cavity. Real-time locomotion control at 1 kHz, planning on user-space Linux at 100 Hz. ROS 2 Humble has been the official integration since 2024 (the `digit_ros2_*` packages on GitHub `agilityrobotics/digit-ros2-msgs`). The SDK is not open source — it requires a partner agreement with Agility. Digit costs ~USD 250k (CAPEX) or via RaaS (Robot as a Service) at ~USD 30k/year per robot.
An SDK (Software Development Kit) is a curated set of libraries, interfaces, tools, sample code, and documentation intended for building applications and integrating with a specific hardware device, platform, or service. In robotics, an SDK typically exposes device control, telemetry, sensor access, configuration, and execution functions, significantly reducing the time-to-first-integration for developers targeting a specific robot or platform.
An API Library is a software package that exposes programmatic interfaces for communicating with a device, service, or system. In robotics it typically forms a lightweight integration layer built on top of the manufacturer's official API or an open-source project, abstracting low-level protocol details and providing language-native bindings (Python, C++, Java, etc.).
Fleet Management software encompasses tools designed for managing a fleet of robots: task allocation and scheduling, status monitoring, over-the-air (OTA) firmware and software updates, error handling, and multi-unit coordination. It provides a centralised operations layer above individual robot controllers and is critical in warehouse automation, last-mile delivery, and industrial inspection deployments.
A family of official SDKs and APIs provided by robot manufacturers: Boston Dynamics (Spot SDK), ABB (RobotStudio), KUKA (RSI / KUKA Sunrise), Universal Robots (URCap / RTDE), Agility Robotics (Digit SDK), Apptronik (Apollo SDK).
Pilot deployments: GXO Logistics (since 2024, US distribution warehouses), Spanx (warehouse logistics), Schaefer Systems Intl., Ford (experimental deployment in 2020), Amazon (Robotics) testing in fulfillment centers. The first commercial 'RoboFab' factory in Salem, Oregon (opened September 2023) plans to produce 10,000 Digits/year by 2026. Partnerships: SSI Schäfer, Manhattan Associates (WMS integration).
Closed partner program — estimated ~50 companies with SDK access (Q1 2025). github.com/agilityrobotics has a few public repos (Cassie heritage, digit-ros2-msgs ~85★). Private forum for partners. Active presence at ICRA, IROS, ProMat (always with live demos).
Tutor Intelligence industrial robot designed for palletizing, depalletizing and case-picking in warehouses and factories, offered as Robotics-as-a-Service from $14/hr.
Requires a partner agreement with Agility Robotics (NDA + commercial contract). No publicly available SDK download. Python 3.9+ recommended for the client.
License family: Proprietary – Commercial
Launch of the Robot-as-a-Service model (~USD 30k/year per robot) for logistics customers.
Agility Arc general availability — full SaaS platform with WMS integrations (Manhattan, Blue Yonder).
Official ROS 2 Humble support (digit_ros2_msgs, digit_ros2_driver) — partnership with Open Robotics.
New generation (chest cavity instead of 'inverted legs'), Jetson AGX Orin onboard. SDK 4.0 with JSON-RPC over WebSocket.
Launch of Agility Arc (cloud fleet management) in private beta.
Improved manipulators, longer runtime. JSON-RPC API introduced.
First commercial Digit version (Cassie heritage). The SDK is a Python wrapper around LCM messages.
