Robust.AI earns NextGen Startup Award for reimagining collaborative warehouse automation
Originally featured on Supply Chain Management Review by SCMR Staff
The Fast Company-recognized robotics innovator will share how its AI-powered Carter robot is helping warehouses boost productivity, reduce walking time and deploy automation without major infrastructure investments.
Warehouse automation is entering a new era, one not defined by replacing workers, but by empowering them. That vision earned Robust.AI the 2026 NextGen Supply Chain Conference Startup Award, recognizing one of the industry’s fastest-growing innovators for redefining how artificial intelligence and robotics can improve warehouse operations through collaboration rather than replacement.
Presented during Friday morning’s general session, the Startup Award recognizes emerging companies developing technologies capable of transforming supply chain operations through innovation, scalability and measurable customer impact. More than simply recognizing a promising young company, the award highlights organizations that are already delivering real-world business results for customers.
The 2026 NextGen Supply Chain Conference will take place Oct. 21-23, 2026, at the W Nashville in downtown Nashville. Registration is ongoing.
All of the 2026 NextGen Supply Chain Conference awards, which include the End User, Solution Provider, Startup, Partnership in Execution, and Visionary, are sponsored by Zion Solutions Group.
Founded in 2019 by robotics and artificial intelligence pioneers—including CTO Rodney Brooks, co-founder of iRobot and Rethink Robotics, and CEO Anthony Jules, whose experience includes Google Robotics, X and Redwood Robotics—Robust.AI was created with a simple philosophy: warehouse robots should work for people, not instead of them.
At the center of that vision is Carter, a collaborative mobile robot designed to increase warehouse productivity while fitting seamlessly into existing operations.
Unlike traditional warehouse automation, which often requires extensive conveyor systems, fixed infrastructure and lengthy implementation projects, Carter can be deployed quickly with minimal facility modifications. The result is a flexible automation platform that helps warehouses improve productivity while maintaining the agility needed to respond to changing customer demand.
That flexibility has resonated across the logistics industry.
Kyle Detwiler, Head of Sales & Solutions for Robust.AI, will accept the Startup Award and present on Robust.AI’s journey.
Proven in real-world operations
DHL Supply Chain selected Robust.AI as one of its strategic robotics partners in 2024, deploying Carter in a Las Vegas facility where the collaborative robot delivered productivity improvements exceeding 60% within its first weeks of operation, according to the company.
The success of that deployment led DHL to expand the relationship into a five-year strategic partnership that now includes the company’s first collaborative robotics deployment within its Latin American operations.
Saddle Creek Logistics Services has also deployed Carter inside a fulfillment center supporting a major beauty products customer. Operating as what the company describes as a “virtual conveyor,” the robot moves efficiently among more than 20 drop-off points without requiring permanent infrastructure, reducing associate travel time while allowing employees to focus on higher-value work.
To support continued growth, Robust.AI has established strategic partnerships with Foxconn to scale global manufacturing and Aptiv to integrate advanced autonomous vehicle technologies into future generations of its robotics platform.
Putting people at the center of automation
While many warehouse automation providers focus primarily on replacing manual labor, Robust.AI has taken a different approach.
Carter combines physical AI with intuitive human-robot interaction, including innovations such as gesture-based controls, to make robotics easier to deploy, easier to operate and more natural for warehouse associates to use.
That human-centered philosophy has helped distinguish Robust.AI within both the robotics industry and the broader business community. In 2026, Fast Company ranked the company No. 2 in the Robotics & Engineering category of its World’s Most Innovative Companies list, recognizing Robust.AI for advancing collaborative robotics that combine artificial intelligence with intuitive design to improve warehouse productivity while empowering the human workforce.
Together, those innovations demonstrate how collaborative robotics can help organizations address labor shortages, increase operational flexibility and accelerate automation without sacrificing the people at the center of warehouse operations.
More than an award presentation
Unlike many industry recognition programs, the NextGen Supply Chain Awards emphasize education as much as celebration.
Award recipients share the implementation strategies, customer successes and lessons learned behind their innovations, providing attendees with practical insights they can apply within their own organizations. […]