By Eduardo De Robbio, Senior Vice President Sales, Körber Business Area Supply Chain
Warehouse operators are heading into 2027 with a practical question top of mind: can robotics adapt quickly enough to the demands of everyday operations? Labor shortages are ongoing, product assortments change, and the pressure to justify automation investments is high. Companies who can handle that variability will shape how the future of robotics can look.
I expect 2027 to bring meaningful growth in warehouse robotics as improvements in perception, grasping, and programming help more applications move into production. The strongest returns will come from systems that give operators greater flexibility while addressing persistent labor constraints. Here are five predictions for the new year based on what I’m seeing and hearing from operators.
- Piece picking moves toward broader deployment
Over the past three years, robotics haven’t scaled across logistics due to persistent limitations in AI perception and grasping. Successful pilots in piece picking and mixed-case palletizing, however, have offered a promising path ahead with the first major rollouts already underway.
In 2027, I expect these applications to gain momentum. Advances in AI vision and more versatile end-of-arm tooling will allow robots to handle a wider range of products and operating conditions. For businesses managing high-mix, low-volume operations, that adaptability will make automation relevant to more workflows.
- Mobile robots take on more warehouse workflows
I believe autonomous mobile robots, or AMRs, will expand beyond point-to-point transport and experience greater adoption in replenishment, returns, manufacturing intralogistics, consolidation, and end-of-line workflows.
Their appeal will be particularly strong where fixed conveyor infrastructure could restrict future layout changes. As order profiles and operational requirements shift, the ability to reconfigure material flows will become an increasingly important investment consideration.
Fleet management systems that enable interoperability will also support expansion. As deployments grow, coordinating robots across workflows will be key to achieving value from the overall operation.
- Humanoids enter early operational testing
I also expect early deployments of dual-arm robots and humanoids in 2027, with adoption patterns shaped partly by regional safety requirements. Customized packaging, sorting, and singulation are attractive areas for evaluating these technologies.
Vision-language-action models and reasoning models will be important enablers. They help robots interpret their surroundings and respond to tasks with greater autonomy. These deployments will provide a clearer view of where emerging robotic capabilities can meet operational needs. Their progress should be judged by performance in real working environments.
- Flexibility becomes a stronger measure of return
Next year, I expect time-to-market pressures and changing product mixes will push operators to look beyond productivity gains when assessing automation. The strongest returns often come from greater flexibility and the ability to maintain operations when staffing challenges occur.
Easier robot programming and more general-purpose programming environments should lower adoption barriers, including for companies without extensive in-house software expertise. That will help narrow the gap between organizations already scaling robotics and those still evaluating their first deployments.
- Scaling depends on operational execution
The companies that scale fastest will do so because they can industrialize their solutions. A successful demonstration proves the technical potential, but sustained deployment requires a close understanding of customer needs and operating conditions.
AI-enabled orchestration software will keep growing in importance as it identifies and resolves critical bottlenecks more autonomously. In 2027, the most impactful advances will be those that help robotics function as part of a coordinated operation and translate technical capability into tangible customer value.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Eduardo de Robbio is a global commercial and technology executive with 20+ years of experience driving growth across robotics, automation and intralogistics. At Körber Business Area Supply Chain, he leads the global sales organization and drives growth across the intralogistics business. His career has combined commercial leadership with a strong technology background, building and transforming businesses across Europe, North America and global markets.
