Level 1 — Absolute Beginner

Agility Robotics is an American company. It builds a robot with two legs. The robot is called Digit. Digit works in warehouses and lifts boxes.

On 5 November, the company joined the stock market. Its short name there is AGLT. Now ordinary people can buy a small part of the company.

This is the first company of its kind on the American stock market. Other companies make robots too, but they are not on the market alone like this.

Digit robots have already worked more than 65,000 hours. The company has nine customers. A new robot, Digit 5, will arrive for most buyers at the end of 2027.

a robot

A machine that can do work by itself.

a leg

The part of a body used for standing and walking.

a warehouse

A very large building where goods are kept.

to lift

To pick something up and move it higher.

a box

A container with straight sides, used to hold things.

the stock market

The place where people buy and sell parts of companies.

a customer

A person or company that buys something.

an hour

A period of 60 minutes.

Level 2 — Elementary

On 5 November, Agility Robotics became the first company on the American stock market whose only business is humanoid robots. It now trades on the Nasdaq under the symbol AGLT. The company did not hold a traditional share sale; instead it merged with a listed shell company, Churchill Capital Corp XI, and raised about 465 million dollars in the process.

Agility Robotics grew out of Oregon State University in 2015. Its robot, Digit, walks on two legs and moves boxes and plastic trays in warehouses. Digit robots have already recorded more than 65,000 hours of work, and at one site run by the logistics firm GXO in Georgia they have moved over 100,000 trays.

Named customers include the car parts maker Schaeffler, GXO, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada and the online retailer Mercado Libre, nine in total. A next-generation model, Digit 5, can lift up to 50 pounds repeatedly and change the tool on the end of its arms. Prototypes will be shown at the CES technology show in January 2027, with wider availability promised by the end of that year.

The finances are the uncomfortable part. TechCrunch reported that the company earned only 174,000 dollars in the first six months of 2026, mostly from related parties, while losing 362 million dollars in the same period. The chief executive, Peggy Johnson, argues the focus is the point: "You don't see a lot of dancing robots or backflipping robots from Agility."

humanoid

Shaped like a human body.

a symbol

The short code used to identify a company on a stock market.

to merge

To join two companies together into one.

a shell company

A company with no real business of its own, used as a container.

logistics

The business of storing and moving goods.

a prototype

An early version of a product, built to test the design.

a related party

A person or business closely connected to the company itself.

a chief executive

The most senior manager of a company.

Level 3 — Intermediate

Wall Street acquired its first pure humanoid robotics stock on 5 November, when Agility Robotics began trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker AGLT, with warrants under AGLTW. The route was a reverse merger with Churchill Capital Corp XI rather than a conventional initial offering, and the combined transaction and associated financings delivered roughly 465 million dollars in gross proceeds before expenses.

The company's pitch rests on restraint. Spun out of Oregon State University in 2015, Agility has resisted the showmanship that dominates humanoid robotics marketing. "You don't see a lot of dancing robots or backflipping robots from Agility," chief executive Peggy Johnson told TechCrunch, adding that the company "stuck to our strategy" of targeting manual, highly repetitive work. Co-founder and chief robot officer Jonathan Hurst once put the sequence more plainly: "Let's start with the bins and the totes, and then let's do the picking and the kitting."

The operational record is real but narrow. Digit robots have logged more than 65,000 operating hours, and at a GXO facility in Georgia they have shifted more than 100,000 totes. Nine customers are signed, among them Schaeffler, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada and Mercado Libre. The forthcoming Digit 5 uses cycloidal actuators, lifts up to 50 pounds repeatedly, accepts interchangeable end effectors and reportedly places loads with 98 percent accuracy. Manufacturing runs through RoboFab in Salem, Oregon, a 70,000 square foot plant rated for up to 10,000 robots a year, with a 50,000 square foot expansion earmarked for Pittsburgh.

The valuation question is unavoidable. TechCrunch reported first-half 2026 revenue of just 174,000 dollars, mostly from related parties, against a loss of 362 million dollars. The order book is described inconsistently: TechCrunch calls it 300 million dollars in planned contracts across 30 customers, while Machine Design describes more than 300 million in committed multi-year orders contingent on contractual milestones and final specifications. Planned and committed are not the same word, and the difference is the investment case.

a ticker

The short code identifying a listed company's shares.

a warrant

A security giving the right to buy shares at a set price later.

a reverse merger

A way to go public by merging into an already listed company.

gross proceeds

The total money raised before costs are deducted.

showmanship

The skill of putting on an impressive public display.

an actuator

A component that converts energy into movement in a machine.

an end effector

The tool attached to the end of a robot arm.

an order book

The total value of orders a company has received but not yet filled.

Level 4 — Advanced

On 5 November the public markets absorbed their first undiluted wager on humanoid robotics, as Agility Robotics commenced trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker AGLT, warrants following as AGLTW. The vehicle was a reverse merger with Churchill Capital Corp XI rather than a conventional initial public offering, a structure that trades the discipline of a traditional roadshow for speed and certainty of execution. Gross proceeds from the combination and its attendant financings came to approximately 465 million dollars before expenses.

Agility's differentiation is temperamental as much as technical. Spun out of Oregon State University in 2015, the company has conspicuously declined to compete in the viral-demonstration arms race that defines the sector's public image. "You don't see a lot of dancing robots or backflipping robots from Agility," chief executive Peggy Johnson told TechCrunch, before noting that Digit "can do that over and over and over" and that the firm had "stuck to our strategy" of pursuing manual, highly repetitive tasks. Jonathan Hurst, co-founder and chief robot officer, had earlier framed the roadmap as a sequence rather than a leap: bins and totes first, picking and kitting afterwards.

The deployment evidence is genuine but thin relative to the ambition. Cumulative Digit operating hours exceed 65,000, and a single GXO site in Georgia accounts for more than 100,000 totes moved, with two further American logistics facilities slated for early 2027. Nine customers are under contract, including Schaeffler, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada and Mercado Libre, four of whom signed in May 2026 for a 500,000 dollar on-site proof of concept. The forthcoming Digit 5 introduces cycloidal actuators, repetitive lifting to 50 pounds, interchangeable end effectors and claimed placement accuracy of 98 percent, manufactured at the 70,000 square foot RoboFab facility in Salem, Oregon, which is rated for up to 10,000 units annually. Partnerships with NVIDIA, FORT Robotics and the fast-charging specialist Nyobolt, whose cells promise a nine-minute recharge and more than twenty operating hours per day, round out the industrial story.

Whether any of this supports the equity is a separate question. TechCrunch reported first-half 2026 revenue of 174,000 dollars, predominantly from related parties, set against a 362 million dollar loss over the same period, a ratio that makes the 465 million raised look less like growth capital than runway. The pipeline is characterised differently by different outlets: 300 million dollars of planned contracts across 30 customers in TechCrunch's telling, more than 300 million in committed multi-year orders in Machine Design's, the latter explicitly contingent on contractual milestones and final product specifications. Johnson declined to forecast that the raise would carry the company to self-sufficiency, and Digit still cannot perform complex manipulation. Investors are therefore underwriting an engineering roadmap, not a revenue base.

undiluted

Not mixed with anything else; concentrated on one thing only.