Summary
Damion Shelton is a co-founder of Agility Robotics, makers of the Digit bipedal robot. He served as the company’s CEO from its 2015 founding until March 2024, when he transitioned first to President and later to Chairman of the Board, and previously co-founded and exited the 3D-imaging startup threeRivers 3D.
Career
Shelton holds a B.S. in bioengineering and a B.A. in history and philosophy of science from the University of Pittsburgh (2001), and an M.S. and Ph.D. in robotics from the Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute, where he met future Agility co-founder Jonathan Hurst (Damion Shelton Celebrated as Swanson School Distinguished Alumni).
In 2007, Shelton co-founded threeRivers 3D, a Pittsburgh-area startup that built a low-cost, high-volume 3D laser scanner aimed at novice users in the healthcare space, particularly the shoe-orthotic industry, serving as the company’s chief technology officer and lead scanner designer until its acquisition in late 2012 (nextomoro).
Shelton co-founded Agility Robotics in 2015 alongside Hurst and Mikhail Jones, and served as CEO for nine years while the company developed and commercialized the Cassie and Digit robots. In March 2024, as Agility brought in Peggy Johnson as CEO to lead commercial scaling, Shelton transitioned to President, focusing on external business and investor relations and corporate strategy, before later becoming Chairman of the Board (TechCrunch; Komo).
In April 2025, the University of Pittsburgh’s Swanson School of Engineering recognized Shelton as its Distinguished Alumnus in Bioengineering, citing his path from studying biomechanics to a robotics Ph.D. to co-founding Agility (Pitt Engineering).
Source Notes
This profile draws on Shelton’s TechCrunch contributor bio, a nextomoro biographical profile, a University of Pittsburgh alumni announcement, and Komo’s Agility Robotics leadership directory. His current title has changed more than once since Agility’s 2024 leadership transition and should be re-verified against the company’s latest public materials.