Agility Robotics CEO Damion Shelton said in a harrowing interview that the company’s “RoboFab” facility plans to produce 10,000 humanoid robots a year once it reaches full capacity. Shelton uses the term “humanoid” to refer to the walking and working robots he produces for companies like Amazon. The company currently carries out small production, but with the new facility, the production amount will increase significantly.

First-of-its-kind humanoid robot factory opens

“We have placed a very high priority on bringing robots to market as quickly as possible,” Shelton said in a statement. “Our main plan is to achieve general-purpose humanoid robots as soon as possible.” said.

Agility Robotics’ plans are extremely ambitious, to say the least. Agility has produced only about 100 robots since its founding in 2016. However, in October, the humanoid model called “Digit”, which Amazon announced that it was currently testing for use in its own factories, made a lot of noise and apparently there is an increasing demand. RoboFab will initially produce only hundreds of bipedal “humanoids”. But Agility Robotics plans to have the facility have a significantly larger capacity of 10,000 robots per year within a few years.

The robot called Digit has been tested by Amazon for warehouse work for a while, but the company’s main goal is to produce general-purpose robots. These robots are expected to replace or assist humans in many fields. The new facility, which will be the first of its kind in the United States, is planned to be built in Salem, Oregon. However, Agility is not unrivaled in this regard. In recent months, China has taken initiatives to expand facilities producing humanoid robots and aimed for mass production in the near future, such as 2025. How humanoid robots will impact real humans—especially when it comes to employment—is shrouded in fog for now. However, according to Agility, humanoid robots will contribute to employment by creating more than 700 new job categories.