00:00Let's start off with some of those names that did just come to market.
00:03We saw the valuation on Unitree closing out its first day near $50 billion.
00:09Figure has raised something like $39 billion in the private markets.
00:13Are you underpriced? And more importantly, are you ready to price and come to market?
00:18Well, thanks for having me, Romaine. I would say we're value priced.
00:22We are at a $2.5 billion pre-money valuation.
00:26We will be going public, the very first humanoid in the U.S., probably in the fall time frame.
00:33And I think what we're seeing is pent-up demand to invest in this space.
00:39There's a lot of excitement in robotics and what we call physical AI, the mix of AI plus robots.
00:45And investors are looking for places to go with that opportunity.
00:49The investor demand is certainly there. What about the actual buyer demand?
00:54I mean, what is the market right now? Because I feel like we've been talking about robotics in some sense
00:59or another for years, for decades now.
01:01Are we now at a stage where it is a commercially viable business with real, tangible, long-term revenue growth?
01:10It is. We have over $300 million of booked orders.
01:16One of the reasons we chose to go this path is in order to ensure we can deploy on all
01:22of that very quickly.
01:23So we're accelerating our path to market.
01:25We have another 30 or so customers seeking these types of devices.
01:30They do the dirty, dangerous, and very dull tasks that are part of people's jobs in these facilities.
01:38They can step in and take this sort of work off their hands, just simple moving things from one device
01:45to another, on and off pallets,
01:48and doing it over and over again, freeing up the humans to do higher value work.
01:53So, Peggy, Agility has opened a 60,000-square-foot facility in Fremont to advance the Digit V5.
02:03I wanted to hear about, you know, what are the key milestones for meeting rigorous third-party safety compliance
02:10for this kind of robot interaction that you've managed to achieve?
02:15So we opened that facility to accelerate the training of skills for Digit.
02:20But the big obstacle with humanoids is all of them right now must work inside of a safety cell
02:27until they're certified to come outside of that cell.
02:31What that means is they have to safely detect humans in close proximity and ensure no harm is done.
02:39At the end of this year, we will be demonstrating the very first safety-certified humanoid
02:45that can come outside of those work cells that they're in now and move throughout these facilities and do different
02:52jobs.
02:53It is likely, we think, probably the number one obstacle into vast deployment of humanoids,
03:00and there'll be a higher bar to get into the home over time.
03:04Very interesting.
03:05And switching back to your plans to merge through a SPAC,
03:10Foxconn led the pipe, which is the private investment in public equity.
03:15Beyond the cash that that provides,
03:17what exact role will Foxconn, as this kind of master of mass production,
03:21and what will it have and play in helping you scale?
03:25Well, we are exploring strategic engagement with Foxconn.
03:30They're clearly a leader and looking to build in North America.
03:35We have a factory already in Salem, Oregon, where we build all of our robots.
03:41It's capable of building 10,000 robots a year in that factory.
03:46But at some point, we will need to seek larger facilities and additional facilities.
03:51So the engagement with Foxconn early is really going to be a big help to us over time.
03:58I'm curious right now about what the relationship is from a regulatory standpoint between the U.S. and China.
04:04There were obviously the new tariffs that the president announced specifically on robotics
04:09that effectively is going to shut out some of those Chinese competitors.
04:13And also, my understanding, some Chinese parts as well.
04:17You've shared that on.
04:18I mean, you have publicly said you're supporting these moves by the president.
04:22Why?
04:24We are supporting the administration's moves because that is a subsidized industry in China.
04:30They also price lower than cost.
04:33We saw the same thing, I would say, a similar playbook with the drone industry.
04:38We had a drone industry here.
04:40And over several years, it moved toward China.
04:44We would like to ensure that that does not happen with the robotics industry.
04:48So we think these are great moves by the administration to ensure that there's a level playing field for U
04:53.S. companies in the robotics space.
04:55That is the finished product.
04:57And I understand the comparison with the drone industry.
04:59But does agility and the rest of the U.S.-based makers, do you have the access to all of the
05:05materials that you would need without China?
05:09Well, right now, most of our components are sourced right here in the U.S.
05:14All robots will need the rare earth magnets that have been much talked about recently as part of the motors
05:22that run the actuators that cause all the movements with the humanoid robots.
05:27So that is one area we're tracking very closely to ensure that we continue to have access to components that
05:34need rare earth metals.
05:35All right, Peggy, and any idea when this SPAC deal is finally going to close out when you start trading?
05:41Well, we're hoping the fall time frame.
05:44And so far, we're on track to hit that time.
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