AGCO plans 2027 humanoid robot pilot at Kansas farm machinery plant

On 20 October 2026 AGCO, which makes tractors and other farm machinery, and Agility Robotics announced a commercial agreement to pilot Agility’s Digit humanoid robot. The pilot is expected to begin in 2027 at AGCO’s production plant in Hesston, Kansas.

According to the announcement, Digit will start with three jobs: sorting parts, stacking parts and placing totes (plastic bins) into storage. The companies said the aim is to take on repetitive, physically demanding work, improve ergonomic safety and raise efficiency. Neither company said how many robots will be used or what the deal is worth.

Agility says Digit has logged more than 65,000 hours of real-world operation, and lists Toyota, GXO and Schaeffler among its other customers. The robots are managed through Agility Arc, the company’s cloud software for running a fleet of robots.

Separately, Agility is merging with Churchill Capital Corp XI to become a publicly listed company. The companies expect the deal to close in the fourth quarter of 2026.

Why it matters

A humanoid robot is built in roughly human shape, with legs and arms. Factories already use many robots, but most are fixed arms bolted in place behind safety fences. The argument for humanoids is that they can work in spaces designed for people, carrying bins along existing aisles and shelves without the building being redesigned. A pilot is a limited trial to find out whether that works in practice. The useful numbers, such as how many bins per hour and how often a person must step in, usually come later. Our Robots in the Room course looks at how to read announcements like this one.