Agility Robotics CEO Damion Shelton Steps Down, Joins Boston Dynamics; Karen Wise Named Interim Leader
Santa clara, Calif. – June 24, 2024 – In a significant leadership shift within the robotics industry, Damion Shelton, CEO of Agility Robotics, has announced his departure to join Boston Dynamics, effective June 24th. Karen Wise, currently a board member at Agility Robotics and a prominent figure in robotics innovation, has been appointed as interim CEO, the company confirmed today.
Agility Robotics and the Rise of Commercial Humanoid Robots
Shelton’s move to Boston Dynamics, headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts, marks a notable transition for both companies. While Boston Dynamics is known for its advanced, yet frequently enough research-focused, robots like Spot and Atlas, Agility Robotics has been focused on developing Digit, a commercially-viable humanoid robot designed for logistics and warehouse applications. Shelton’s role at Boston Dynamics was not immediately disclosed, but is expected to contribute to their growing commercialization efforts.
Karen Wise brings a wealth of experience to her interim CEO role.She previously served as the second employee at Willow Garage, a robotics research and progress lab based in Menlo Park, California, where she spearheaded the development of foundational robotics technologies. her team was instrumental in creating the Robot Operating System (ROS), now a widely adopted open-source framework for robot software development, the PR2 robot platform, and the TurtleBot educational robot.
Wise’s contributions to the field have been widely recognized. She was a recipient of the 2021 Supply & Demand Chain Executive‘s Supply Chain Woman of the Year award, the prestigious 2022 Engelberger Award – often considered the “Nobel Prize of Robotics” – and was named among Buisness Insider‘s “eight CEOs changing the way we work.” She also holds a B.S. in mechanical engineering and physics engineering,and an M.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Agility Robotics, founded in 2015 and based in Corvallis, Oregon, has been gaining traction with its Digit robot, securing partnerships with companies like Ford and Amazon for pilot programs. The company was acquired by Zebra Technologies in 2021 for $290 million, a deal that aimed to integrate Agility’s robotics capabilities with Zebra’s supply chain solutions.
Looking ahead, Agility Robotics is slated to keynote RoboBusiness, taking place October 15 and 16 in Santa Clara, California. The company will participate in a panel discussion titled “Lessons Learned from First Humanoid Deployments,” alongside Jim Fan, Director of AI and a Distinguished Scientist at NVIDIA, and Katlyn Lewicke, Head of Global Automation Strategy and Intel at GXO Logistics. This event will provide further insight into the challenges and opportunities surrounding the deployment of humanoid robots in real-world applications.
