Meet the robots learning to survive real warehouse chaos
A conversation with Nomagic's North America chief reveals how AI-guided robot arms are moving from controlled demos to the messy reality of order fulfilment, and what that shift means for the warehouses that run our online shopping.
Key points
- Nomagic, a robotics company specialising in AI-driven order fulfilment, is expanding its operations into North America under general manager Josh Cloer.
- Cloer previously helped build Mujin's North American business from scratch as a founding team member.
- Google DeepMind announced that its Gemini Robotics 2 system can now control a robot's full body, not just its arm.
- US defence contractor HII signed an agreement worth up to $900 million with Path Robotics and GrayMatter Robotics for automated welding and manufacturing.
- The University of Florida opened a new robotics lab focused on automating construction work.
Picking the right item off a shelf sounds simple. For a robot arm, it has been one of the hardest problems in engineering.
That gap between the tidy lab and the chaotic warehouse floor is exactly what Nomagic, a robotics company based in Europe, is trying to close. The company builds AI-guided picking systems: robot arms that can identify, grab and sort items in a fulfilment centre, the kind of facility that packs your online orders. Josh Cloer, Nomagic's general manager for North America, laid out the company's thinking in Episode 256 of The Robot Report podcast.
What makes warehouse robots so hard to get right?
Warehouses defeat simple robots because the real world refuses to stay tidy. Boxes arrive crumpled. Products shift in transit. Lighting changes. A system that works perfectly on a test bench can fail the moment a slightly squashed parcel arrives on the conveyor.
Nomagic's answer is what the industry calls physical AI, meaning software that learns from physical experience rather than following fixed rules. The robot watches, adjusts and improves each time it handles a new object. Cloer describes the goal as bringing a "new level of intelligence and adaptability" to the picking process, not just speed.
Cloer is not a researcher. He is a sales and operations leader who spent years scaling Mujin, another industrial robotics firm, across North America before joining Nomagic. His job now is turning the technology into contracts.
What else happened in robotics this week?
Three other stories from the same episode are worth a quick look.
| Story | Who | What | Scale |
|---|---|---|---|
| Welding automation deal | HII, Path Robotics, GrayMatter Robotics | Agreement to deploy automated welding systems | Up to $900 million |
| Full-body robot control | Google DeepMind | Gemini Robotics 2 controls whole-body movement | Research announcement |
| Construction robotics lab | University of Florida | New lab dedicated to building-site automation | Single facility opening |
The HII deal is the largest of the three by a wide margin. HII is a US defence and shipbuilding contractor, and the agreement signals that heavy industrial welding, one of the most physically demanding and dangerous trades, is now a serious target for robot automation.
Google DeepMind's Gemini Robotics 2 announcement is a different kind of milestone. Earlier robot AI systems typically controlled a single arm or gripper. Full-body control, meaning the robot coordinates legs, torso and arms together, opens the door to machines that can work in spaces built for humans.
Common questions
Will warehouse robots replace warehouse workers?
The industry's honest answer is: some jobs, not all. Picking and sorting roles are the most exposed; roles involving judgement, maintenance and exception-handling are less so. The pace of change depends heavily on how quickly the technology proves reliable outside controlled conditions.
Does any of this affect what I pay for online deliveries?
Not directly or soon. Automation can lower fulfilment costs over time, but those savings have historically gone to shareholders or subsidised faster shipping rather than lower prices for shoppers.
