Jonathan Hurst’s Robotics Journey: From Research Lab to Humanoid Robots

Jonathan Hurst: The Robotics Expert Behind Agility: Jonathan Hurst is the co-founder and Chief Robot Officer of Agility Robotics. His work focuses on building robots that can move through human environments and perform useful physical tasks. His research helped turn advanced legged-robot technology into commercial humanoid robots like Digit.

From Carnegie Mellon to Oregon State: Hurst earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and both a master’s and Ph.D. in robotics from Carnegie Mellon University. He later joined Oregon State University, where he built his research career around legged locomotion, biomechanics, walking and running robots.

Studying How Animals Walk: At Oregon State, Hurst founded the Dynamic Robotics Lab. His research explored how animals move efficiently and how those principles could help robots walk, run and stay balanced. This work eventually helped create robots capable of handling real-world movement beyond smooth laboratory floors.

ATRIAS and Cassie Built the Foundation: Hurst’s research led to ATRIAS, a bipedal robot designed around human walking dynamics. The work later evolved into Cassie, a highly capable two-legged research robot. In 2021, Cassie completed a 5-kilometre run outdoors, showing how far legged robotics had advanced.

Agility Robotics Was Born in 2015: In 2015, Hurst, Damion Shelton and Mikhail Jones founded Agility Robotics from Oregon State’s Dynamic Robotics Lab. The company first developed and sold robotic platforms for research before moving toward full humanoid systems designed for practical work.

Digit Takes Humanoid Robots Into the Real World: Digit became Agility’s flagship humanoid robot. It can walk through human-designed spaces, navigate obstacles and handle objects. Its design focuses on useful movement rather than simply looking human, making it suitable for logistics and warehouse work.

From Research to Warehouse Work: Digit has moved beyond demonstrations and into commercial logistics. Agility describes Digit as the first humanoid to be commercially deployed, with work in logistics warehouses. The robot is designed to handle repetitive physical tasks while working alongside people.

Combining Robotics With Physical AI: Hurst’s current work brings together traditional robotics, biomechanics and machine learning. Agility says its focus on Physical AI aims to help Digit perform complex movement and manipulation in real environments. The goal is to make robots more adaptable, capable and useful.

A Bigger Vision for Humanoid Robots: Hurst’s journey reflects a bigger shift in robotics: moving from impressive laboratory experiments to machines that perform useful work. Agility is now scaling Digit for commercial use, with the company announcing more than $300 million in multi-year Digit v5 orders and a pipeline of more than 30 customers.

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