AI Humanoid Robots Have Already Entered the Workforce. Should You Care?

Digital Disruption with Geoff Nielson

Host Jeff Nielsen interviews Peggy Johnson, CEO of Agility Robotics, about the integration of humanoid robots into the workforce. The discus

Key takeaways

Agility Robotics aims to scale production to over 10,000 robots per year to meet demand.
The humanoid form factor is essential because existing industrial infrastructure was designed specifically for human dimensions.

Main topics

Humanoid robotics deployment
Labor shortages and manufacturing reshoring

Notable quotes

The world was built for humans.

Conclusion

Humanoid robots are emerging as essential tools to augment human labor

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:01) We have an administration who's reshoring a lot of manufacturing here back to the U.S., so putting additional pressure on the very limited human labor force. I don't think it can be done without robots, to tell you the truth. If you look at all the jobs that do manual material movement, by 2032, the need for that kind of work will be about $1 trillion. As we start to reshore more and more, that is going to have to be fulfilled with something. And right now, today, we don't have the humans to do that. Right now, we can do this, you know, repetitive manual work that no one wants to do, but where can it go? Speaker 2 (0:46) This is a show about the future of tech and the future of work. I'm Jeff Nielsen, and today we're diving into humanoid robotics. My guest is Peggy Johnson, CEO of Agility Robotics, one of the largest and most advanced players in humanoid robots. She's working with companies like Amazon and Toyota to scale up to build and deploy over 10,000 of these robots every year. Okay, pause. I'm talking about building an army of robots like it's not kind of crazy. And we need to talk about that. And Peggy is exactly who we need to talk to. Is this really bad for jobs and for people? Do we need to be worried about robot overlords in our lives? Or is this a technology that will be so useful that a decade from now, it will be so present in our lives that it'll just be boring? I have to ask and I'm dying to know. Let's find out. Speaker 2 (1:40) Well, Peggy, thanks so much for being here. Really excited to be talking with you today. You know, maybe first and foremost, look, you're a robotics CEO in 2026. And, you know, I've read YouTube comments and social media comments, and there's some like really scared people out there accusing you of some pretty crazy stuff. And so I wanted to kind of address that right off the bat, I guess. How do you respond when people are, you know? telling you that they think that you're enabling some sort of dystopia or you're creating some sort of existential risk to humanity through the robotics work that you're doing. Speaker 1 (2:17) Yeah, you know, it's interesting because unfortunately so many people have been raised on robot movies where the, you know, the humans don't come out so well in the end. So that's the going in position from a lot of people. But there are good robot movies out there like WALL-E and others. But really, I think the better question is, you know, are the tasks that these robots taking on. truly sustainable for human workers because they are doing tasks that are very hard to fill. The attrition rate is high. They're dirty, repetitive, sometimes dangerous, very injury prone. So when you think about it, these can augment humans in their roles. So the parts of their job that involve that kind of work can be pushed to the robot. And it frees the humans up for higher level, more complex activity and even becoming, you know, a fleet manager of these robots. But that perception does quickly get changed when we deploy in facilities because people realize this is a tool, you know, much like a hand screwdriver is. hard and a power screwdriver makes the job easier. Very, very similar with robots. Speaker 2 (3:43) So that's a really interesting point that once people kind of see what you're doing and see it in action, their perception quickly changes, right? It's less imagination of, you know, these are the movies I've seen to, oh. It's just this. So I'm curious, you know, having seen some of these deployments, what are some of the most common reactions? And what is it, I guess, about the way that you've built these robots or deploy them that sort of gets people's guard down? Speaker 1 (4:11) So a couple of things. As I said, once people realize that they can offload the parts of their jobs they don't love to the robots, that's a big step for them. And they see it as helping them get their jobs done without, you know, risking hurting their backs or their knees. The other thing that we did, and our founders were very intentional about this, is the robot is teal-colored. It's sort of this soft green look that is a little bit more attractive to humans who are seeing it for the first time instead of sort of a steely, dark look. And that's been helpful. We also didn't make the robot... a true facsimile of humans because we built it for work. And so when you look at it, you can see it's a device that looks somewhat like a human but doesn't try to look exactly like a human. So we avoid some of that uncanny valley that you can fall into when you're trying to make something look exactly like a human. And the reaction there can be... very challenging for humans who see these for the first time. So we've tried to soften that initial exposure and it's working. We've had very positive reaction from employees of the facilities that we've deployed at. Speaker 2 (5:42) I'm interested, you know, you talk about that form factor and, you know, it not being exactly human, but I'm curious from a design perspective, you know, this tends to get described as a humanoid robot and Yeah, I'm curious why, like why humanoid of all the like shapes or things that could be in the world? What what makes sense about the human form factor for the jobs and tasks that these robots are doing? Speaker 1 (6:08) Well, the most compelling reason is because the world was built for humans. So if Speaker 2 (6:14) you Speaker 1 (6:15) are looking for a tool that can move around those spaces, a humanoid, a bipedal, turns out is a great answer for that because you want the humanoid to be able to walk where humans walk. Sometimes that's narrow hallways. You want them to be able to go up and down curbs, steps, outside over uneven terrain. So all of that has to be taken into account. And when you introduce the humanoid, that you don't come into these facilities and say, okay, you have to move all of your capital equipment around. It's meant to be, no, the humanoid will come in and move into the places that were built. for the size and shape of a human. So it'll lift up to say six feet tall overhead to put boxes on shelves just as humans can. It can go down to the floor and lift things up. And so it's very much meant to take the place of a human in those spaces, which means it can't be much bigger. It can't be much smaller or wider. It has to be there where humans have been walking. Speaker 2 (7:26) Right. Just to come back to something you were saying earlier, I mean, the language there sort of take the place of humans. That's something that I can tell like sometimes triggers people when they hear about this, because there's this, you know, anytime you're talking about automation, there's this worry of, you know, massive layoffs or loss of jobs for a new technology. And, you know, my sense is that because there's a humanoid form factor, it just sort of. extends that worry that much further because, oh, there's these things and they kind of look like us and they're going to take my job. Now, you talked about this earlier. You said that, you know, your your biggest priority for these are jobs that are unsafe or undesirable for people. Can you maybe just expand on, you know, some of the concerns you've heard? And I guess in some ways what you see the future of work actually looking at looking like when we've got, you know, humans, when we've got robots. together in this sort of new world? Speaker 1 (8:27) Yeah, that's a great question. And when I said take the place, I meant physically in that place. Speaker 2 (8:33) Physically, yeah, yeah. Speaker 1 (8:34) Physically, yeah. But what, again, if you, let me just describe one of these jobs to you. So if you go into these facilities, they tend to be, you know, beautiful. big pieces of automation. There's conveyor belts, there's put walls, there's autonomous mobile robots which look like flat carts and things roll up and bring product. The issue is all of that type of automation is generally produced from different companies and they don't necessarily have any connectivity. So there's still a human that's needed. to, at certain times in the day, pick things up off of an autonomous mobile robot and set it onto a conveyor belt, and to do that over and over and over again. Now, it's generally not their entire job, but it's a part of their job. And that's the part that they can offload. And they can then, in these factories that are already strapped for human labor, they can take higher order and higher level jobs. But something has to move that product around from one piece of automation to another. And still today, surprisingly, a lot of that work is done by humans. And those jobs are even harder to fill. The attrition rate is quite high. It's generally about six months turnover. And, you know, we have in these factories now a retiring workforce, young people. don't want these jobs generally, particularly ones that are just that repetitive kind of mind numbing work. And we have an administration who's reshoring a lot of manufacturing here back to the U.S. So putting additional pressure on the very limited human labor force. So the jobs are there. There's over a million jobs just in the logistics. area alone in the U.S. that are going unfilled. And that number is growing. It used to be about 600,000 a few years ago, and it's growing because of those trends that are moving in the industry that are putting pressure on that. So what we see is as we can augment and take off of the human sort of that very repetitive manual part of their job. It allows them perhaps to become a digital employee. We've already created a new role in a fleet manager. So somebody needs to manage the robots and how they interact with other robots and other pieces of equipment. And that's a digital job. So we've already had several employees who part of their job was this kind of manual task heavy work move into more of a digital role. And something they, you know, didn't start as and are excited to learn more about because there's an upward trajectory with a job like that. Speaker 2 (11:45) It's interesting to hear about and to see how it fits, I guess, in the broader picture, not just within a facility or a factory, but I guess even within the broader economy. And as you said, this trend toward trying to reshore and build, I guess, manufacturing capacity and capability in America. So I'm curious because obviously, you know, that's something that's been in decline for a long time and we're starting to deliberately try to reverse that trend. But it's not. What we're building now is not just, oh, let's build it how it was, you know, in 1979. It looks different. So how do you see this actually, I guess, making, you know, America or, you know, the Western world more competitive and more viable as like a manufacturing hub? Speaker 1 (12:31) So are you speaking in general about manufacturing or robots place in that? Speaker 2 (12:36) I'm talking about how can the place of robotics in that? What role do robotics have in this kind of competitive landscape? Speaker 1 (12:45) Another great question. I don't think it can be done without robots, to tell you the truth. Because of the pressure on the labor force already, we can't find these jobs. In fact, if you look at all the jobs that do. you know, manual material movement. By 2032, the labor market for the need for that kind of work will be about $1 trillion. So it's a big need that we have that as we start to reshore more and more, that is going to have to be fulfilled with something. And right now, today, we don't have the humans to do that. So automation in general. And robotics in particular are going to be a necessary factor in being successful if the U.S. wants to be successful in that. And you'll hear the administration talk about that as they talk about reshoring. One of them said the other day, it's not your grandfather's factory. It has to be a factor of the future that is ready to take on a very cutting edge. Speaker 1 (13:56) technological facility that will be very, very different from what we built in the past. And so they'll have to be reimagined, redefined, and deployed with quite a bit of automation from the get-go. Speaker 2 (14:12) If you don't work in enterprise technology, you can skip ahead or take a quick braincation. 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