April 2026 Robotics Recap

Hello again, everybody, and welcome back to “Robotics Recap, a monthly breakdown of all the news from Robotics 24/7 at Peerless Media.

I'm your host, Tim Culverhouse, Editorial Director of Robotics 24/7, and now it's time to look back on an action-packed, travel-filled April 2026.

Don't forget to subscribe to our podcast on whatever medium you listen to it, and also get the latest episode of “Robotics Recap” as soon as it's released. Our release cadence is the last Wednesday of each month.

Also, you can catch up on our three earlier editions of the “Robotics Recap” from January, February and March.

As we dig into today's episode, we're going to focus a lot on MODEX 2026, the “Supply Chain Super Bowl,” and all of the news from before, during and after supply chain’s main event.

We'll also explore news outside of MODEX 2026, with mergers and acquisitions along funding headlines. What happened over at HANNOVER MESSE in Germany, along with other market research, new robots, software and partnership news.

MODEX 2026 observations and recap

Without any further ado, let's dive right into MODEX 2026. The “Supply Chain Super Bowl” was an action-packed three days for me in Atlanta at the Georgia World Congress Center.

I spent those three days (Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday photo galleries), across all three halls of the GWCC, taking in meetings with various organizations, checking out all the latest technological advancements in robotics and various components and software systems related to the supply chain, warehousing and logistics segments.

Now I'm not going to recap everything that we covered from MODEX 2026, Robotics 24/7 had 70 pieces of content related to the show this year, but I do want to focus on five major observations that I had as I was sitting on the plane flying back home to Boston.

I got to thinking about all my meetings, walking around the show, listening to end users, integrators, developers and everybody that was in Atlanta. These were the five things that really caught my eye.

The first one relates to data collection. Every booth I visited, there was some element of sensors, cameras and/or vision systems. Basically, everything was collecting data. Data is king, and how organizations are utilizing this data, whether it's on the navigation segment with localization or mapping or path planning, whether it's related to safety, which is obviously a huge element when these robots and robotics systems are working alongside humans, whether it's in the quality control space as well, especially in the food and beverage or cold storage everything related to warehouse workflows, I was able to see just an abundance of technology associated with data collection.

The next step of that is the analysis segment. And going back to conversations that I had at the show, everybody, and I mean everybody, is using AI in some way, shape or form. Whether it's agentic AI, turning that into physical AI, generative AI, whatever. AI is everywhere, and that next step was really kind of the driving force of MODEX 2026, in my opinion. If you feel differently, you can email me: [email protected], you can respond in the comments of this or you can post something on our LinkedIn page. But I really feel that AI took that next step. A handful of years ago, at my first MODEX in 2024, everybody said AI, but didn't really know what that meant. This year, I feel there was a big shift in terms of how organizations are utilizing AI to their advantage and passing that along to their end users. Now, whether it's analysis, predictive analytics, maintenance, predictions, anything related to AI and harnessing the power of this computing technology, everybody is doing it in some way, shape or form. Now, the end users are taking advantage of that to optimize processes and do things in their warehousing segment, whatever the workflow is, to optimize it to the best of their abilities.

The next segment of MODEX 2026 that I want to talk about is also on the software side of it. Now, the term orchestration gets thrown out a lot, and even really before the show, in the internal dialog and conversations with folks in the robotics space, there seemed to be some either disconnect, or even a connection, between orchestration and fleet management. What I came out of the show understanding was that orchestration was really kind of this next step in the evolution of how robots of all different shapes and sizes are working in these warehouses, distribution centers, 3PL factories, whatever you want to say, but the orchestration element was really prominent at the show. What I was understanding in my conversations with people at MODEX this year is that managing robots of different sizes, of different forms, of different vendors and where that fits in your WMS and your overall warehouse software platform is really important, and it means that you're turning your warehouse basically into a digital twin. You have the digital element and everything that's going on in the software side, and then what actually happens on the factory floor, so we generate this complete representation of every asset, both robotic or automation systems and humans moving around at the site. And orchestration obviously has the orchestra tie in with the word, and it really is like conducting an orchestra. We had a conversation earlier this year in one of our webinars about this analogy, and it really came to a head at MODEX with how many organizations are moving into the orchestration space, through partnerships, through evolutions and software through other technological innovations that this is integral to optimizing warehouse systems and making sure that “thing A” gets out of your space as quickly as correctly and efficiently as possible to make its way in the next step On the supply chain. So, orchestration is something that I'm really focusing on moving forward. And some of the news that came out of MODEX really kind of bears that importance as well.

A couple of other news and notes from MODEX 2026: form factors of robots are evolving, too. The material handling space really isn't a one-size-fits-all segment, and what we saw at MODEX was a proliferation of different robots or automation platforms with different form factors that are moving these materials across different segments of the supply chain. You have AMRs, cobots, AMRs with robot arms on top of them, integrated conveyor systems, humanoids, tying that all into the software. These different form factors were on display from organizations from around the world, and they're handling different parts of the supply chain in the warehousing space than I would argue that from MODEX 2024, we didn't see as much of that. Obviously, humanoids are the big draw in terms of interest in video views, but I really didn't see as much of a push for the humanoids segment at MODEX 2026 as some of the other big industry trade shows the last couple of years.

On the flip side, one area that I did see significant growth in related to robotics and automation is the loading dock, specifically trailer loading and unloading, with multiple booths, multiple vendors, organizations and partnerships related to this space. And what that means for going into this dirty, dangerous, hot and segment of the warehouse and supply chain industry that humans have long looked to get out of, we're starting to see organizations make major pushes to automate the loading dock, which we've heard for years that it's kind of this last part of the warehouse that hasn't been automated. But, we're seeing organizations use the technology to their advantage, robots rolling into or out of trailers and loading and unloading these segments, and what that means for the organization as a whole, and helping ease the supply chain with the labor burden, labor constraints and other extreme conditions associated with the loading dock. The MHI Innovation Award winners also tied into this observation that I had from MODEX 2026, so this is something else that I'll obviously be keeping an eye on moving forward.

And lastly, the news that I was most surprised by at MODEX 2026 was the announcement of a new MODEX. MHI, during the opening keynote of the event, announced the launch of MODEX West. MHI will have a MODEX West event from October 18-20 in 2028 that will take place in Las Vegas. Reading through the tea leaves and based on some of my conversations with folks there and the people at MHI, there was a major waiting list for MODEX 2026, and only 5% of the exhibitors and attendees at MODEX are coming from the west coast of the United States. So, MHI made the decision to launch a new event in the fall of 2028. I don't have any more concrete details on that right now, but it's certainly something that we'll be keeping an eye on related to the news and the overall event segment of the robotics space moving forward. So again, MODEX West, for the first time, October 18-20 2028, and that will take place in Las Vegas.

So that'll wrap up my MODEX 2026 thoughts. Again, you can follow along with all of our coverage of MODEX on Robotics 24/7.

HANNOVER MESSE 2026 news and notes

The week after MODEX, we had another major industry trade show. That was HANNOVER MESSE, and that took place over in Germany. Here are some of the headlines that I took away from that show.

We had RealSense demonstrating a comprehensive GMSL depth camera portfolio at the event.

Accenture, Vodafone Procure and Connect, and SAP announced at HANNOVER MESSE that they were piloting a humanoid robotics deployment in warehouse operations. Now, in that deployment, Accenture was utilizing humanoids as part of Vodafone's warehousing operations, and using SAP’s integration platform to manage and deploy those humanoids. Some interesting news on the humanoid front, even after I would almost say the lack of it at MODEX, this was a big headline that happened from over in Germany.

NVIDIA and its partners showcased what they call the ‘future of AI driven manufacturing’ at the show.

And then Flexiv put on a display in Germany that the company called ‘the future of adaptive robotics,’ and also hosted the European debut of its robotic massaging platform.

April 2026 merger, acquisition and funding news

Now we'll take a look at some of the funding, mergers and acquisitions news from April 2026. At the start of April, RoboForce announced a $52 million funding round that the company said it will use to scale physical AI's robo-labor.

Right after MODEX, something that caught my eye, Skild AI acquired the robotics business segment of Zebra Technologies, previously known as Fetch Robotics or Zebra Robotics Automation. At the end of 2025, Zebra Technologies, in its SEC filing, announced that it was looking to divest or completely eliminate its robotics business segment. Now a handful of months later, Skild AI comes in and acquires that segment from Zebra Technologies.This broke right after MODEX 2026. The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed and we'll certainly keep our eyes on that. But Zebra Robotics Automation, the former Fetch line that Zebra Technologies acquired a few years ago, are now under the Skild AI umbrella.

A couple of other funding headlines from late April 2026, A&K Robotics announced an $8 million Series A round that the company will use for airport mobility technology.

And Antioch raised $8.5 million that it said will enable the agentic development of physical autonomy.

Robotics market research from April 2026

In market research news from this month, we had a report from the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) that found robot density surging in Europe, Asia and the Americas. Now, that report also takes a look at what that means for robotic deployments and some of the major vendors in the space and what they're doing with this news.

At MODEX, we posted a story related to Gartner in a new research study from that organization that predicts half of new warehouses built in developed markets will be human optional facilities by 2030. This is a major headline in terms of some key words there like “human optional” facilities and 2030. This is something that we'll certainly be keeping our eye on. Gartner will address this research at some of its upcoming shows this spring, and we'll have more news related to Gartner's research studies on Robotics 24/7 moving forward.

And then right at the end of this month, Interact Analysis released a report that said it's unsure if the U.S. machine vision marketplace will see consolidation. Now this report dives into the abundance of machine vision that happens in the U.S. space, but only a handful of vendors control the major portion of the marketplace. And Interact Analysis isn’t sure what that means. It’s something that is interesting to see with the major market share, with only a couple of organizations, and specifically the industries that they're attacking.

New robot and software announcements in April 2026

On the robotics side of news from April 2026, we had some three announcements that I want to mention here.

ABB robotics announced the launch of its POWA cobot family that extends its cobot operational abilities across different industry segments, including some heavy payload cobots.

Another cobot announcement, FANUC debuted the CRX-3iA cobot lineup, and also add a new capabilities across the CRX collaborative robot portfolio.

And then GFT Technologies released an assembly line of AI-powered robots that the company says can detect and remove defective parts in automotive manufacturing. GFT said that the release of this new AI-powered assembly robot line as an expansion of its partnership with Google and how GFT is utilizing AI for defective parts in the automotive manufacturing space and now the time that it takes for humans to remove something from the assembly line.

One headline from the software side of April 2026. Niantic Spatial announced the launch of Scaniverse 3D space capture and the VPS 2.0 virtual positioning platforms.

Robotic deployment and partnership news from April 2026

And finally, under partnerships and deployments from this month, Robot.com surpassed 2.5 million tasks in its robot fleet, handling tasks in the logistics, campus delivery and OOH advertising segments.

NEURA Robotics and AWS entered a strategic collaboration that the organizations say will accelerate physical AI at scale across industries.

Flex and Teradyne Robotics expanded their partnership that they say will scale intelligent automation across global manufacturing.

Right after MODEX, we had Peak Technologies and Jacobi Robotics partner. The organizations said that they'll use this partnership to deliver next-gen mixed-case palletizing automation.

And then lastly, Tennant Company and Brain Corp. said they are accelerating robotic cleaning innovation by signing an exclusive technological partnership that will see Brain Corp.’s software inside Tennant Company’s cleaning AMRs.

May 2026 Robotics Recap preview

Those are the main headlines from April 2026 on Robotics 24/7.

MODEX was the major draw this month, with the “Supply Chain Super Bowl” and our team spending some time in Atlanta taking in all of the news and notes from this major event. But as always, robotics innovation continues to happen at a breakneck pace.

We try to keep up with all of it, and we're so happy that you can do so with us.

Thank you once again for tuning in to our April 2026 “Robotics Recap” podcast. Don't forget, you can download and subscribe to “Robotics Recap” on the podcast platform of your choosing, and we look forward to seeing you again at the end of May, as we get ready for Automate 2026, which will take place in Chicago in the middle of June.

I'm Tim Culverhouse, Editorial Director of Robotics 24/7. I look forward to seeing you for the next episode of “Robotics Recap.” Thanks so much, and we'll see you again soon.