Marrying robotics and technology

Robotics and technology go hand in hand, but if they aren’t working in unison, any warehouse operation is bound to experience setbacks.

As Jim Hoefflin, CEO of Softeon, told an audience at Manifest 2025 recently, there remains a great amount of variation in warehouse operations when it comes to robotics and technology.

“It’s like first-generation WMS [warehouse management systems], and they’re just starting,” he said. “They’re good at how they create their workflow. They bring you different automation substances. I think the key to all of it is how you set that up.”

Hoefflin said his company puts a lot of time and focus into warehouse execution and communication, and helping customers adapt and provide support.

Josip Cesic, CEO of Gideon, said for his company—which loads and unloads truck trailers across different industries—robotics must be flexible and able to make decisions on the fly.

“These days, with all the investments in AI and computing, robots are really able to solve those moving problems,” he said.

Though typically separated from the electronic processes that are happening inside a facility, Cesic said loading bays are a good location to start the automation process.

“There are a number of technologies that can enable or help optimize processes across a facility, but the loading bay is relatively separated,” he said. “So from an adoption perspective, it’s a really great use case to start and learn about automation, and take the journey forward.”

Corvus Robotics is a company that develops inventory drones, which can fly themselves and scan pallet labels to enable fully automated inventory management.

Jackie Wu, CEO and co-founder of Corvus Robotics, said being able to deploy quickly and in all possible environments is important, and relies on integrating the drones with technology.

“Some of the core technologies that are mature allow us to set up these drones,” said Wu.

Hoefflin said the message he tries to relay to his customers is to create better value and solutions that take less time to implement in order to reach the next level of productivity.

“All of this automation is really good at upsetting what was the industry norm, and you know, we’re in a better position today,” said Hoefflin.