GXO Pilots Humanoid Robots in Warehouses

The Reflex Robotics humanoid is a wheeled mobile manipulator, a design choice that enhances stability and allows for a 16+ hour battery life, significantly longer than many bipedal models. This design avoids the higher costs and complex balancing issues associated with bipedal legs, which are often unnecessary in warehouse settings. The robot features two arms with a collective payload of over 50 lbs, roughly twice the strength of a human, and can be equipped with swappable three-fingered hands with built-in suction. This pilot is part of GXO's broader "operational incubator" program, which partners with technology developers to test solutions in live warehouse environments. GXO is co-developing use cases for the Reflex robot in an omni-channel fulfillment operation for a Fortune 100 retailer. Early tasks being explored include disposing of empty cartons and transferring totes between different automation systems. The robot currently operates via teleoperation, allowing a human to control it remotely, a core part of Reflex's strategy for rapid deployment and immediate utility while the AI learns. The system is designed to become fully autonomous over time by learning from these human demonstrations, with an operational capability goal of within 60 minutes of deployment. This "human-in-the-loop" approach helps tackle complex, unpredictable tasks from day one. The Robots-as-a-Service (RaaS) model provides GXO with flexibility, allowing it to scale its robotic workforce to match demand, such as during seasonal peaks, without a large upfront capital investment. This subscription-based approach shifts the burden of maintenance, upgrades, and support to the RaaS provider, allowing logistics companies to focus on core operations. GXO's exploration of humanoid robots is part of a wider, aggressive strategy to evaluate the category, with the company also piloting devices from Agility Robotics and Apptronik. While the long-term vision is for multi-tasking robots, current trials focus on single, repetitive, and physically demanding jobs to prove value and refine the technology in real-world scenarios. The agentic AI orchestrating the robots is a key component of GXO's broader technology platform, GXO IQ. This AI-native operating system is designed to be proactive, not just reactive, orchestrating millions of decisions in real-time to optimize everything from inventory placement to pick paths. It moves beyond simply following rules to autonomously planning and executing actions to achieve defined goals.