Historically, bipedal robots have been reserved for research labs. Agility Robotics is starting to change that tune with Digit, a bipedal robot first commercialized in early 2020. The company recently closed a $150 million Series B round to help scale its operation. Agility is targeting real-world applications such as moving totes and packages and unloading trailers at warehouses. During RoboBusiness, which runs Oct. 19-20 in Santa Clara, Calif., Agility Robotics co-founders Jonathan Hurst and Damion Shelton will discuss how they're developing Digit to perform useful tasks.

Early bird registration for RoboBusiness ends August 20, 2022 at 11:59 PM Eastern. Buy your early bird pass now and save $100 on full conference registration. Expo-only passes are just $75. Discounts are also available for academia, associations, and corporate groups. RoboBusiness 2022 will take place October 19-20 at the Santa Clara Convention Center. Since its founding in 2004, RoboBusiness evolved into the world's premier robotics business development event.

Humanoid robots were out of fashion at this year's RoboBusiness, the annual exhibition in San Jose, California, that pegs itself as "the most important robotics event in the world". Make your robot look and sound too much like C3P0, explained Ty Jaegerson of Savioke, and people's "expectations of intelligence go up". The exception to the non-anthropomorphic, however, was the iPal, a child-size robot designed to take on distinctly adult responsibilities. The 3ft tall iPal has wide eyes, working fingers, pastel trimming, and a touchscreen tablet on its chest. It can sing, dance, and play rock paper scissors.