Daifuku targets 2030 humanoid robot for full warehouse automation

Daifuku has built its business on automated material handling for factories and distribution centers, and its partnership with Intelest Systems covers roughly 85% of warehouse processes such as receiving, storage, picking, sorting, and shipping. The hard remainder is picking, the step where people are still most involved, and the company has been working on the problem with AI-guided picking using an X-Y gantry robot combined with AI, though dealing with irregular or soft goods remains difficult.

At the International Logistics Exhibition 2026, Daifuku demonstrated warehouse solutions that pair its Fly Silent robot with mid-size SOTR-M and small SOTR-S AMRs (autonomous mobile robots) in a ground-level case-picking setup, and combined a four-way pallet shuttle, a pallet-based fork lift SOTR-F, and a large SOTR-L AMR for a pallet-based demonstration. Against that backdrop, the humanoid robot is presented as the piece meant to finish the job.

Aiba's remarks point to a development strategy anchored in cost and durability rather than capability alone: fewer motors, less wear, and one maintenance cycle per year. Whether the 2030 target is met will likely hinge on whether that approach holds up in real warehouse conditions, and on how humanoid makers respond to the requirements Daifuku says it has already communicated to them.