How does AutoStore work?
AutoStore stores inventory in bins stacked into a dense cube. Robots drive on rails across the top of the grid, dig down to lift out the bin they need, and deliver it to a worker at a fixed port. It is a goods-to-person system, and the robots stay on the grid rather than roaming the floor.
Key facts
- Form factor
- amr
- Maturity
- commercial
- Verified deployments
- 2
- Maker
- AutoStore
- formFactor
- amr (grid-based cube storage AS/RS; robots run on top of a fixed bin grid)
- classification
- grid-bot automated storage & retrieval (AS/RS), NOT a free-roaming AMR - constrained to a fixed grid surface
On the record
AutoStore footage of its cube-storage system. Grid robots operate on top of an aluminum storage grid, delivering bins to goods-to-person Ports in a closed automated storage-and-retrieval system.
The core idea
AutoStore, from Norway's AutoStore, replaces warehouse aisles with a single dense cube of stacked storage bins. Removing the aisles is the point: the same footprint holds far more inventory.
How the robots move
Small robots run on an aluminum grid on top of the cube. To fetch an item, a robot drives to the right column and digs down, lifting bins out of the way until it reaches the target bin, then carries it across the grid. Because bins that move often naturally end up nearer the top, the system gets faster at reaching popular items over time.
Goods-to-person picking
The robot delivers the bin to a fixed workstation, called a port, where a person picks the item and the bin is returned to the grid. The worker stays put and the goods come to them, which is what "goods-to-person" means.
What it is not
DEPLOY records AutoStore as a grid-based AS/RS, not a free-roaming mobile robot. The robots cannot leave the grid: their world is the fixed surface on top of the bin stack. That constraint is what makes the system dense and predictable.
For the company and deployment record, see what AutoStore is. For how DEPLOY separates verified facts from claims, see verified-vs-claimed.
Frequently asked
How do AutoStore robots retrieve items?
Robots drive across a grid on top of a cube of stacked bins, dig down to lift out the target bin, and carry it to a fixed workstation port where a person picks the item.
What is a goods-to-person system?
It means the goods are brought to a stationary worker rather than the worker walking to the goods. AutoStore robots deliver bins to fixed ports for picking.
Verified vs claimed
- Verified: AutoStore (Nedre Vats, Norway; Oslo Bors: AUTO) is a commercial cube-storage system: a grid of stacked bins with small robots driving on top, digging down to retrieve bins and delivering them to ports. FY2025: 1,950+ installations across 65+ countries (300+ in North America, 21,000+ robots there). IPO Oct 2021.
- No outstanding claims on file.
Split from the registry record. See the verified-vs-claimed framework.
Where it is deployed
2 verified deployments on the registry for the AutoStore System. Click any marker to open its primary-source record.
Explore the deployment map
See where these robots are verified operating, by place and type.
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