Schaeffler says Digit began moving component baskets at its Cheraw plant in early 2025 and still described the robot doing that work in April 2026. Independent reporting describes an eight-hour workday and a roughly one-minute loop.
HU-R008 / Deployment evidence
Digit × Schaeffler
A named Digit factory workflow with operator evidence spanning more than one year and independent reporting on the daily work pattern, but no public runtime, uptime, intervention or recovery record.
>1 yrcalendar evidence span
1named plant
0measured reliability rates
What this means
The short version, without reliability jargon
No source gives the total operating hours, downtime, failures, recovery time or frequency of human intervention.
The two dates show that the task was publicly described more than a year apart; they do not prove that the robot worked continuously or reliably throughout that period.
Evidence verdict
Established. Claimed. Unknown.
EstablishedOperator or independent evidence
- Named factory taskLoad and unload an industrial washing-machine workflow at Schaeffler's Cheraw plant[2] [4]
- Calendar evidence spanTask reported as starting in early 2025 and still described as active in April 2026[2] [4]
- Deployment boundarySchaeffler describes the work as a pilot project while also discussing a potentially permanent commercial setting[2]
ClaimedManufacturer or capability claim
- Purchase agreementAgility reported an agreement for Schaeffler to purchase Digits for its global plant network[1]
Still unknownNo qualifying public value
- Cumulative operating hours and scheduled-time denominator
- Downtime, failures and recovery events
- Human interventions and task-level autonomy share
- Delivered fleet size, cycle count and success-rate denominator
What the evidence says
Schaeffler's own publications establish that Digit began a named material-handling task at Cheraw in early 2025 and was still handling heavy components there in April 2026. An independent factory report adds an eight-hour daily work pattern and roughly one-minute basket loop, but no source publishes cumulative runtime, scheduled time, downtime, interventions, failures or recovery. The calendar span and daily pattern therefore cannot be converted into uptime or MTBF.
01 / Reliability fields
What is known—and missing
Runtime hours
Not disclosed: No cumulative operating hours
Availability / uptime
Not disclosed: No scheduled-time denominator
Human interventions
Not disclosed: Not disclosed
MTBF
Not disclosed: Not disclosed
MTTR
Not disclosed: Not disclosed
Task output
Not disclosed: No cycle count or success rate
Energy / charging
Not disclosed: No charge/runtime record
Autonomy mode
Not disclosed: Task-level mode not disclosed
Fleet size
Operator corroborated: 1 site unit described; total unknown
Independently measured
Operator corroborated
Manufacturer reported
Capability claim
Not disclosed
02 / Claims and evidence
What each source supports
Named factory task
Operator corroborated
Load and unload an industrial washing-machine workflow at Schaeffler's Cheraw plant
Schaeffler identifies the plant, robot and material-handling workflow. Its later CEO report describes Digit transporting heavy components at the site, but neither source publishes task attempts, completed cycles or rejects.
Sources: [2] [4]
Calendar evidence span
Operator corroborated
Task reported as starting in early 2025 and still described as active in April 2026
This establishes a public activity window of more than one year. It does not establish continuous deployment, cumulative operating hours, scheduled time or availability within that window.
Sources: [2] [4]
Deployment boundary
Operator corroborated
Schaeffler describes the work as a pilot project while also discussing a potentially permanent commercial setting
The operator's own wording does not cleanly establish a completed transition from pilot to scaled commercial deployment. HumanoidUptime therefore records active factory use without inferring commercial fleet maturity.
Sources: [2]
Purchase agreement
Manufacturer reported
Agility reported an agreement for Schaeffler to purchase Digits for its global plant network
The announcement establishes customer intent and an investment relationship. It does not specify delivered units, sites, acceptance results or operating performance and is not evidence that the entire global rollout occurred.
Sources: [1]03 / Timeline
What changed, and when
-
Agility announces Schaeffler agreement
The manufacturer announces Schaeffler as customer and investor and describes intended purchases for the global plant network without delivery counts or site results.
[1] -
Cheraw task begins
Schaeffler later states that Digit began loading and unloading a washing-machine workflow at the beginning of 2025.
[2] -
Independent factory report describes work pattern
A Wall Street Journal report from Cheraw describes 25-pound baskets, an approximately one-minute loop and eight hours of work per day. It does not publish a reliability test protocol or downtime log.
[3] -
Schaeffler CEO confirms continuing factory use
The CEO's annual-meeting report states that Digit handles transport of heavy components at the Cheraw plant.
[4]
04 / Sources
Trace every finding
-
Source 1Manufacturer announcement
Agility Robotics announces strategic investment and agreement with Schaeffler Group ↗
Agility Robotics · Published 2024-11-13 · Accessed 2026-09-04
-
Source 2Operator publication
Welcome aboard Robo ↗
Schaeffler · Published date not stated · Accessed 2026-09-04
-
Source 3Independent factory reporting
Humanoid Robots Step Into New Factory Roles ↗
The Wall Street Journal · Published 2026-03-16 · Accessed 2026-09-04
-
Source 4Operator executive report
Report of the Chief Executive Officer at the 2026 Annual General Meeting ↗
Schaeffler · Published 2026-04-23 · Accessed 2026-09-04