---
title: 'Agility Robotics tempers optimism around everyday robots'
date: '2025-12-29T14:42:13-08:00'
type: post
word_count: 249
char_count: 1579
tokens: 324
categories:
  - Portland
---

# Agility Robotics tempers optimism around everyday robots

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times: Oregon-based [Agility Robotics](https://www.agilityrobotics.com/) doesn’t get the local attention it so richly deserves. They’re one of the leading companies in the humanoid robotics space and they’re right here in Oregon. Oh well. [At least the Wall Street Journal gets it](https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/humanoid-robot-hype-use-timeline-1aa89c66?st=6fsdG7).

The WSJ spent time with Agility Robotics getting their perspective on the concept of everyday humanoid robots that would intermingle with us in real life, doing a variety of tasks. But according to Pras Velagapudi, chief technology officer at Agility Robotics, that may still be a bit of pipedream.

> Velagapudi is skeptical. Getting human-shaped robots into warehouses or industrial sites to move boxes is one thing, he said; building a robot butler is beyond the industry’s current capabilities, with current robots too unreliable to perform complex tasks.
> 
> Then there is safety. According to a survey of executives, the cost of installing robots is the biggest reason companies avoid deploying robots, said Ani Kelkar, a partner at McKinsey. For every $100 spent on deploying robots today, only around $20 is the actual machine, with the rest being spent on equipment and systems designed to protect humans from injury, Kelkar said.

For more, read “[Even the Companies Making Humanoid Robots Think They’re Overhyped](https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/humanoid-robot-hype-use-timeline-1aa89c66?st=6fsdG7).”