Your next Toyota RAV4 might roll off the assembly line with a little help from a walking, tote-carrying humanoid robot named Digit. Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada just made a bold move into the future of car building, and the ripple effects could reach every showroom in North America.
What Toyota and Agility Robotics Just Announced
Agility Robotics, creator of the general purpose humanoid robot Digit, announced that Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada (TMMC) has signed a commercial agreement with the company.1 Following a successful pilot, the company signed a commercial Robots-as-a-Service agreement with Oregon-based Agility Robotics to deploy its general purpose robot at the facility.2
Toyota will begin deploying three humanoid Digit robots at its Woodstock plant under the new deal.2 While seven robots are allocated under the agreement, deployment will begin with three units.2
This is the first commercial deployment of humanoid robots in the Canadian automotive industry.
Tim Hollander, president of Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada, said: “After evaluating a number of robots, we are excited to deploy Digit to improve the team member experience and further increase operational efficiency in our manufacturing facilities.”2
Toyota Agility Robotics Digit humanoid robot RAV4 Woodstock factory
What Will Digit Actually Do on the Factory Floor?
The robots will be unloading totes full of auto parts from an automated warehouse tugger.3 The robots will handle part movement by loading and unloading totes and feeding them into the production line. This is a narrow but critical function in assembly plants, where minor delays in material flow can disrupt entire production cycles.4
Here is what Digit brings to the table:
- Carrying capacity: 35 pounds per load
- Walking speed: Up to 3.4 miles per hour
- Battery life: Up to 8 hours depending on the task
- Height: 5 feet 9 inches tall
- Components: Approximately 5,000 individual parts per unit
- Sensors: LiDAR, depth cameras, RGB cameras, and arm force sensors
Its ability to navigate complex environments, including stairs and tight spaces, is facilitated by its bipedal design, which mimics human movement patterns.5 Digit can autonomously return to a standing position after falling, which is a critical capability for robots operating without constant human supervision. This self-recovery feature, enabled by its reverse-jointed leg design, significantly reduces downtime.6
The system operates using a hybrid approach that combines traditional control systems with AI-based learning methods. This enables deployment cycles measured in hours rather than the weeks or months typically associated with industrial automation integration.7
Why Toyota Chose Humanoid Robots Now
The timing is no accident.
Manufacturing and logistics operations continue to face shortages in roles that involve repetitive manual handling. Agility positions Digit as a response to this gap. It is capable of taking over “monotonous, process-automated tasks” that are hard to recruit for and retain workers in.4
For Toyota, this is less about replacing workers and more about maintaining output in areas where hiring remains inconsistent.4 The company has been clear that Digit is not here to take anyone’s job. Instead, it frees up human employees to focus on more skilled, higher value work.
The broader picture is telling. IDTechEx expects automotive manufacturing to be the first sector where humanoid robots scale in meaningful volumes. Compared with open-world environments, automotive plants offer controlled operating conditions, structured workflows, and clearer ROI justification for repetitive labor-intensive tasks.8
Analysis from Market Research Future estimates that the global market for humanoid robots will grow from US$40.85 billion in 2025 to US$1,036 billion by 2035.9 Toyota is positioning itself early in a race that every major automaker is watching closely.
The Woodstock Plant and the 2026 RAV4 Connection
This story gets more interesting when you consider what the Woodstock factory builds.
Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada has started producing the all-new 6th generation RAV4 for the North American market.10 All 2026 Toyota RAV4 models in North America are now hybrids.11 Production is ramping up at TMMC’s plant in Woodstock, Ontario, where vehicles will also be built for export to the United States.12
That means every RAV4 hybrid rolling off the Woodstock line could soon have Digit involved in its logistics chain.
To support the launch of this new generation, Toyota invested over $1.1 billion, bringing its total investment in Canada to more than $12 billion.13 TMMC currently employs more than 8,500 team members at its facilities in Cambridge and Woodstock, Ontario.10 TMMC remains the number one automaker in the country, assembling more than 535,000 vehicles in 2025.10
Key Fact: Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada is Toyota’s largest manufacturing operation outside of Japan.2 Over 4 million RAV4s have been produced by TMMC since it assembled its first RAV4 in 2009.10
The Bigger Race for Humanoid Robots in Auto Factories
Toyota is not alone in this push.
BMW has actively been working with the Figure 02 humanoid with the robot assisting 10 hours per day on the assembly of vehicles.14 Hyundai plans to deploy 30,000 Atlas units at its factories in 2026 to begin large scale production and integration in manufacturing.14 Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced in December 2025 that sales of Optimus units to other parties would finally begin in 2026.9
| Automaker | Robot Partner | Scale of Deployment |
|---|---|---|
| Toyota Canada | Agility Robotics (Digit) | 7 units, starting with 3 |
| Hyundai | Boston Dynamics (Atlas) | 30,000 units planned by 2028 |
| BMW | Figure AI (Figure 02) | Active daily use on assembly lines |
| Tesla | In-house (Optimus) | Internal factory use, sales starting 2026 |
Agility is among the leaders in getting robots out of the lab, with Digits working in similar capacities for logistics providers like GXO, Schaeffler, and Amazon.3
What sets Toyota’s approach apart is caution. The scale of deployment shows caution. Seven robots in a single facility is a controlled expansion, not a full rollout. Toyota and Agility have both indicated they will continue evaluating additional use cases before scaling further.4
Instead of buying the robots outright, Toyota is leasing them through Agility’s Robots-as-a-Service model. As the robot’s hardware is improved, older models can be swapped for new ones without losing an initial investment.15 This is a smart financial play that keeps Toyota flexible as the technology evolves at a rapid pace.
The age of humanoid robots on the factory floor is no longer a far off concept from a sci-fi movie. It is happening right now, at a plant that builds one of North America’s best selling SUVs. Whether Digit ends up handling parts for your next RAV4 or simply proves what is possible, this moment marks a turning point. The factories of tomorrow are being built today, one walking robot at a time. What do you think about humanoid robots building your next car? Drop your thoughts in the comments below.
