Inbound Logistics | July 2026

BUILDING THE CONNECTED WAREHOUSE

innovations gaining ground on the warehouse oor.

Several factors drive their investments. Fickle consumer preferences introduce uncertainty when it comes to determining which products need to be shipped, from where, and when, says Al Dekin, co-founder and chief revenue ofcer with Locus Robotics. The automation and intelligence increasingly embedded in material handling solutions can help warehouses manage the growing need for exible operations. Labor costs and availability, as well as concerns about employee health and safety also prompt investments. Greater deployment of automated material handling solutions can help make warehouse jobs safer and less physically demanding, potentially reducing turnover, says Johannes Hinckeldeyn, director, research engineering with KION Group AG, a supply chain solutions provider. Yet even as materials handling innovations promise to make warehouses safer and more productive, to create real value, the various solutions need to work effectively together. This requires “strong control systems, eet orchestration, exible deployment tools, and the ability to connect with existing warehouse systems,” says Maya Gong, global marketing director with SEER Robotics, an intelligent robotics company. Here’s an overview of some of the most promising materials handling

ADVANCED ROBOTICS ENABLE FLEXIBILITY

As robotics technology advances, it is increasingly able to address issues of concern among warehouse operators, including labor shortages as well as changing consumer preferences and shopping habits. One company making good use of these benets is DHL, which deploys thousands of Locus robots across its global network, recently surpassing one billion picks. The robots are coordinated through the LocusONE platform, which allows multiple robots to operate as a unied eet. Each robot handles in-aisle picking from the totes in storage, completes the order it’s working on, and then moves to a drop-off station, which could be a conveyor spur, racking, or a pack station. “Then it returns to the start to do that over and over again,” says Kait Peterson, vice president and head of marketing with Locus. LocusONE leverages AI agents, rened from more than 7 billion picks, to dynamically optimize fulllment operations. The platform intelligently groups and assigns orders to minimize robot travel, maximize throughput, and drive system productivity. These capabilities allow for exibility. The robots can be deployed in new or existing warehouses, where they can handle multiple tasks. The goal is to remove repetitive, labor-intensive tasks so humans can focus on value-add work. “It’s a completely new paradigm for warehouse operations,” Peterson says. The Locus Array, introduced early in 2026, is a robots-to-goods solution that combines AI, autonomous mobility, and robotic manipulation. It can retrieve items directly from storage locations and deliver completed orders with minimal human intervention, says Gina Chung, chief strategy ofcer. This helps increase throughput and accuracy and reduce cost, while supporting operations that can run almost 24/7, she says. Locus has begun deploying Locus Array with select

North American partners, including DHL Supply Chain. And with Locus Array, LocusONE uses predictive demand patterns to proactively reposition inventory totes to optimal locations, reducing movement and increasing fulllment efciency. In addition, Locus recently acquired Nexera Robotics, which specializes in advanced robotic grasping. By integrating Nexera’s end-effector technology into the Locus Array, the robots can handle an even wider range of packages, Chung says. HUMANOIDS AND ROBOTIC ARMS TACKLE COMPLEXITY Ryder System is currently piloting humanoids, or robots that can handle more complicated activities, such as picking and repackaging items. Ryder starts the humanoids with basic tasks, such as taking parts from a container in DHL deploys thousands of Locus robots across its global network. The robots are coordinated through the LocusONE platform, which enables the robots to operate as a unified fleet, increasing fulfilllment e ciency.

an ASRS and repacking them. “But the technology is moving

quickly,” says Gary Allen, Ryder’s vice president of supply chain excellence. As it matures, the applications for which humanoids can provide value likely will expand. There’s some debate, however, around the true need for humanoids, Allen

KION’s autonomous lift trucks can be virtually commissioned to speed deployment. The forklifts are tested virtually to ensure they can handle the required tasks.

138 Inbound Logistics • July 2026