Heavy‑case handling reaches 1,000–5,000 lb

Warehouse robots are moving into weight classes that used to belong almost entirely to forklifts and pallet jacks. At MODEX 2026, KUKA showed autonomous mobile robots rated from 250 to 3,000 kilograms for pallet work. (kuka.com) (automatedwarehouseonline.com) The headline machine in that lineup was KUKA’s KMP 3000P, an autonomous platform that can carry three tons, or about 6,614 pounds, and recharge inductively during operations. (kuka.com 1) (kuka.com 2) Other vendors are filling in the lower heavy-payload band with forklift-style robots that pick up pallets from the floor and move them without fixed guides. OTTO Motors lists the OTTO Lifter at 1,200 kilograms, or 2,640 pounds, and MiR lists the MiR1200 Pallet Jack at 1,200 kilograms, or 2,646 pounds. (ottomotors.com) (mobile-industrial-robots.com) Ocado Intelligent Automation pushed the category further into distribution-center workflows at ProMat 2025 with Porter, a pallet-moving robot rated for 1,500 kilograms, or 3,300 pounds. Ocado said Porter is aimed at cross-docking, bulk-item picking, putaway, and pallet movement. (robotics247.com) The basic idea is simple: instead of bolting conveyors everywhere or assigning a driver to every move, warehouses use software to dispatch mobile robots to fetch and deliver pallets. Teradyne, MiR’s parent, says its AMR portfolio now spans payloads from 250 kilograms to 1,350 kilograms. (teradyne.com) That matters in buildings where forklifts still dominate the heaviest repetitive moves between staging lanes, palletizers, and outbound docks. Filics says its Streamliner system is designed to move pallets in tight spaces and retrieve them from the side, targeting layouts where turning room is scarce. (filics.eu) Trade-show demos are also tying the robots to palletizing cells instead of selling them as standalone machines. KUKA’s MODEX booth paired its AMRs with ABCO Automation palletizing equipment and Hyperion payload modules to move palletized loads between robots and workcells. (automatedwarehouseonline.com) The labor pitch is just as important as the hardware. Robotics 24/7 reported that Ocado positioned Porter as a way to reduce reliance on manual forklifts and certified forklift drivers for repetitive pallet transport. (robotics247.com) Heavy inbound and unloading costs still shape the economics. One 2025 industry guide put typical lumper fees at $150 to $450 per load, a reminder that every manual touch on a pallet can still trigger extra cost in food and retail distribution. (foreigh.com) The thread running through these launches is not one robot replacing every forklift. It is that more of the 1,000-to-5,000-pound work inside warehouses is being carved up into software-directed trips that machines can now handle on their own. (kuka.com) (ottomotors.com) (robotics247.com)