Physical AI in intralogistics – LogiMAT 2026 presents the first steps of humanoid robots into real-world use cases, but what happens in the background is even more interesting

“Stop dancing, start working” was an apt remark I heard at LogiMAT regarding humanoid robots. It clearly shows that the expectations for these robots are rising quickly. Companies no longer want to see entertaining marketing videos; instead, they want to see concrete value. The LogiMAT 2026 intralogistics fair, which took place in Stuttgart, Germany, at the end of March 2026, was a good opportunity to see the current capabilities of humanoids. PAC spoke with many intralogistics experts at the fair to understand how physical AI (AI-enabled robots, vehicles, and drones) is shaping intralogistics today and in the near future. Here are our key findings:

Let’s start with the hype topic of humanoid robots. At last year’s LogiMAT, the first humanoid was presented at one of the booths, and Boston Dynamics, a key player in humanoid robots for years, joined as a new exhibitor at the show. This caught my attention, and I wanted to see with my own eyes how fast this new technology has been advancing. In a nutshell, LogiMAT 2026 showed progress around humanoids, but the advancements presented at the fair were not rocket science.

Around 5-10 humanoids (with arms and legs) were exhibited at different booths. While some were just standing/hanging around, waving a hand, or were operated remotely, we also saw two AI-enabled robots in action. The SAP booth presented a humanoid (on wheels) linked to a warehouse management system; it performed a simple material handling task (moving boxes from one side to the other). The best demonstration was given at the Beumer Group booth, together with Neura Robotics: a humanoid sorted small goods into two different boxes. It was slow, but it worked. Both demos were impressive, but the tasks they performed were certainly not highly sophisticated. Other robots have been handling materials and sorting for years.

However, beside the first real-world demos, we also saw three aspects related to humanoids that we found a little disappointing. First, you don’t see them walk on their feet. It looks like their walking skills are still fragile, and there is a high risk of falling over. For this reason, all humanoids with feet were always secured by a hanging construction. Second, we saw that one of the humanoids had a spastic collapse at the show. This means reliability is still in the early stages. Third, after Boston Dynamics announced the commercial launch of its humanoid robot Atlas at CES 2026 in Las Vegas, I was disappointed that Atlas was only displayed on a video screen, not in real life. In short, the show gave us the impression that AI-based humanoids with arms and legs for multi-purpose use cases are still in the early stages and not around the corner for industrial-grade use. You will find some pictures at the end of this post.

Beside humanoids, we saw simple mobile manipulators for specific purposes that are ready for implementation today. They run on wheels, use basic robot arms, and rely on AI capabilities to pick and place unknown objects. The company Brightpick is a good example in this context. Its AGVs, combined with a simple robot arm, even run fully autonomously during night shifts. Simple is beautiful! These AI-advanced robots deliver concrete value today. Other vendors with AI-based pick-and-place capabilities for unknown objects, like Siemens, Nomagic, and Sereact, were also present at LogiMAT. If you are interested in this topic, see this vendor landscape report: AI-Advanced Robotics and the Transformation of Pick-and-Place – InBrief Analysis. We will also publish a PAC RADAR on this topic in July 2026.

In addition, we saw a very interesting AI-enabled use case with drones at the Reply booth. Autonomous Reply presented an automated drone service to identify goods in large outdoor areas. The drone follows a predefined flight path and applies vision AI to scan the barcodes of pallets to identify the exact location of goods. We had seen this solution last year at LogiMAT, but this year, Reply was able to prove the value of the solution through more customer use cases. Some automotive OEMs have begun using this solution already.

In summary, physical AI is real, but customers should not be blinded by the hype around humanoids. In the background, commercially available robots, AGVs, and drones, increasingly combined with AI capabilities, do the real work – reliable, cost-effective, and silent. The good thing is that humanoid robots don’t need to do the real work and have enough time to continue impressing us with their dance performances.

Some pictures of humanoids at LogiMAT 2026

Level 1 case – A humanoid is just standing/hanging around.

Level 2 case – A humanoid greets people by shaking hands and waving its hand.

Level 3 case – A remotely controlled humanoid.

Level 4 case – A humanoid on wheels takes boxes from A to B.

Level 5 case – A humanoid sorts different items into two different boxes.