IERA Award 2026 Goes to Flying Warehouse Robots by Verity from Switzerland

Verity recognized for development and market launch of warehouse intelligence system

Frankfurt, Jun 16, 2026 — The 2026 “Award for Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Robotics & Automation” (IERA) goes to Swiss deep-tech company Verity for its fully autonomous indoor drone system. The aerial robots help in the logistics and retail sector, continuously keeping track of inventory without GPS or human intervention. The drones autonomously navigate aisles and scan barcodes before returning to charging stations. Across deployed fleets, a centralized cloud-based platform ensures continuous learning and optimization of performance.

From left to right: Nancy Amato IEEE RAS President, Takayuki Ito IFR President, Markus Hehn Verity AG, Jim Ostrowski IEEE RAS VP for Industrial Activities / © Denes Erdos-Event Photographer

Each drone is equipped with real-time autonomy functions on board, such as perception, motion planning, and obstacle avoidance, to ensure real-time decisions. When they fly through aisles, they capture barcode data, which are integrated directly into warehouse management systems. Discrepancies are identified and reported. The drones work autonomously for months at a time, requiring two to three battery replacements per year.

Automation in logistics and retail sectors

In the retail and logistics sector, keeping accurate inventory records is fundamental. In warehouses, inventory may be distributed across thousands of storage locations and moved throughout the day. The continuous checks performed by aerial robots would not be feasible with manual processes, all the more so, as the sector is marked by high labor turnover and tight cost constraints. By locating lost items, such as misplaced fully loaded pallets, the drone system saves companies a significant amount of money that would previously have had to be written off.

“With its aerial robotics technology, Verity has managed to develop a mature product that has been successfully launched to support its customers,” said Jim Ostrowski, IERA Award’s Committee Chair. “The jury was impressed by Verity's significant patent portfolio, their robust business plan, and their pioneering role in bringing innovative technology to market.”

“It is a great honor to be recognized by the leading organizations in the robotics industry,” said Markus Hehn, Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Verity. “We thank the jury for recognizing the efforts of our team and awarding us the prestigious IERA Award 2026.”

Two more finalists

Open Navigation LLC presented Nav2, the world’s most widely used autonomous mobile robot navigation solution by deployment count. It provides the capabilities needed by a mobile robot to navigate autonomously and makes them available as configurable, production-tested, actively maintained open-source components.

Innok Robotics presented the INDUROS ecosystem, an industrial mobile robot system designed to automate “brownfield” industrial intralogistics. It operates seamlessly across indoor halls, outdoor yards and uneven terrain combining the precision of an indoor autonomous mobile robot with the ruggedness of an agricultural machine.

IFR Global Robotics Award 2027

In 2027, the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) will present the IFR Global Robotics Award for the first time. The award honors industry-led robotics innovations that bridge the gap between cutting-edge research and real-world deployment. Open to robot manufacturers, system integrators and component suppliers, the award recognizes solutions that address significant societal challenges, drive technological innovation or demonstrate significant commercial potential.

“The award has a global scope and is not restricted to IFR members,” says Takayuki Ito, President of the International Federation of Robotics. “Eligible submissions will present solutions that have been deployed in real-world environments and are commercially available or in active use. The call for applications opens in November 2026.”