Otto Group Plans Up to 25 Sereact Robots for Returns Processing

HAMBURG, Germany -- German retailing giant Otto Group has agreed to roll out up to 25 artificial intelligence-enabled robots that will handle returns at one of the company's logistics centers in Poland through its partnership with robotics firm Sereact.

According to details released Oct. 28, there are two phases in the implementation process which will see 10 AI-enabled robots first deployed. In the second phase, the number may be increased to 25 robots based on how the first phase performs.

These robots will sort and inspect products that are being returned to the company and this job is not easy to automate due to differences in shape, packaging and condition.

The German physical AI startup claims that its Cortex robot base system enables robotic arms to recognize objects and manipulate them without the need to program each object individually.

In addition, Sereact will rely on Nvidia's Isaac Sim, Isaac Lab, and Cosmos to train robot policies in a simulated environment before implementing them physically.
Contrary to normal warehouse picking where the items being picked are consistent, returns processing requires picking of items that could possibly be broken, repacked or lacking their original packaging. Robots in returns processing will thus need to deal with more variance as compared to robots dealing with standardized materials.

The project will run on a robotics-as-a-service model whereby Sereact will manage the robots. The financial terms of the arrangement including contract value and recurring service costs remain undisclosed.

In early October, Sereact announced another returns processing project alongside Zalando and CEVA Logistics. The three companies revealed that robotic systems with two arms had been rolled out into actual operation in their logistics centers located in Germany and Poland.
Sereact also announced a collaboration with Teradyne Robotics to incorporate Cortex AI software into robotic arms made by Universal Robots.

Otto Group’s deployment is a new project altogether and its first phase will be used as a chance to test the robot’s performance before considering scaling up. There is no information on the date when the first robot systems will commence regular operations as well as the performance numbers.