Why Cubic ASRS Is the Key to Future-Proofing Your Warehouse

By Ocado   August 24, 2025         

Why Cubic ASRS Is the Key to Future-Proofing Your Warehouse

Designed to maximize the efficiency of any warehouse, cubic ASRS offers industry-leading storage density, warehouse slotting, picking speed and accuracy, and reduced labor costs.

Also referred to as ‘grid-based ASRS’, ‘robotic cube storage’, ‘hive storage’ or ‘cASRS’, these systems consist of:

A fixed structure: A sturdy, modular metal framework leveraging the vertical and horizontal space within a warehouse to its fullest potential, allowing for the storage of stock bins in an exceptionally dense, uniform manner

Picking robots: Instead of using Storage Retrieval Machines (SRMs, common in pallet unit-load ASRS) or shuttles that move along rails between racks (used in shuttle ASRS), cubic ASRS employs multiple computer-controlled robots that navigate the top layer of the grid, picking items or bins. Removing the need for aisles or rails within the grid significantly increases storage density.

While cubic ASRS is just one type of automated storage and retrieval system, we believe it represents the pinnacle of ASRS technology—offering the highest throughput, densest storage and greatest scalability in a vast number of applications. That’s why we chose cubic ASRS for our own Ocado warehouses, now in operation worldwide.

What are the benefits of cubic ASRS?

  • Vertical storage density
  • Reduced fixed costs
  • Enhanced scalability
  • No single point of failure (SPOF)
  • Safe and secure
  • Picking accuracy and speed
  • Data-driven approach
  • Contributing to sustainability

Latest in Ocado Intelligent Automation

Latest in Autonomy

Editors' Picks

The future of CFD is connected, automated, and AI-enabled
The future of CFD is connected, automated, and AI-enabled

From geometry preparation to AI-assisted analysis, integrated CFD workflows…

Festo gets a grip on AI-based picking
Festo gets a grip on AI-based picking

Software-based GripperAI manages mixed picking through basic geometry

How Beckhoff Automation’s EtherCAT and controllers power Dexterity’s Mech ‘superhumanoid’ robot
How Beckhoff Automation’s EtherCAT and controllers power Dexterity’s Mech ‘superhumanoid’ robot

Safety, communication and motion control components enable smooth operation

Automate 2026: Forklifts, physical AI, vision systems and more from day three in Chicago
Automate 2026: Forklifts, physical AI, vision systems and more from day three in Chicago

North America’s largest robotics and automation event winds down