Period covered 21 – 27 September 2026Written by Tomo Miyata
Robots and parts are getting cheaper. This week's five stories trace the growing weight of the software that ties them together.
Germany's Transporeon added an AI agent, Trimble Arc Agent, to its transportation software in August. It is a leading transportation management software provider that came under America's Trimble in 2022, and the new agent handles freight procurement and vehicle tracking but always requires human confirmation before acting. Bernhard Schmaldienst, who oversees Transporeon products at Trimble, said: "AI only works when it understands your products, your people and your data."
The same shift is happening outside the four walls. Andrei Iacobiță of IESYS wrote about the vehicle queues that build up at facility gates. The cause is often elsewhere — loading-bay space, processing speed inside — and sharing vehicle data with facility software can turn a queue into something preventable, he argues.
Investment on the hardware side continues too. Amazon announced in September that it will build a new manufacturing facility in Indiana, exceeding $100 million and creating 300 jobs, to make parts for its logistics robots. It has already deployed more than a million robots across 300-plus facilities worldwide.
Prices are falling at the same time. Feather Robotics, a US startup, sells a $30,000 modular robot to developers and has already passed $1 million in revenue. The robots themselves are also multiplying: the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) reports that the world's industrial robots reached 5 million in 2025, up 9%, with China taking 59% of new installations while Japan fell to third place, down 19%.
Robots and parts alike will keep getting cheaper. What will set companies apart is whether one piece of software can direct material handling equipment from different manufacturers and the people working alongside them, and whether someone has drawn the line on how much the AI decides and where a person confirms. Transporeon and IESYS both point to that same requirement, inside the facility and out. GROUND's GWES puts that line-drawing at the centre of the product. In Japan, where labour is scarce, I believe the precision of that line will show up as a difference in productivity.
GROUND Inc. — Founder & CEOTomo Miyata
This Week's News
Five stories
01Lead storyTrimble Arc Agent requires human confirmation before it acts. Photo: Unsplash
Logistics OSAgentic AIGermany / United States
Transporeon adds an AI agent to freight operations, keeping the final confirmation with a person
Germany's Transporeon added an AI agent, Trimble Arc Agent, to its transportation planning and execution software in August. Transporeon is a leading transportation management software provider that came under the ownership of America's Trimble in 2022. The agent handles freight procurement, carrier follow-up and vehicle tracking, but requires human confirmation before it acts and shows the reasoning behind its recommendations. Bernhard Schmaldienst, who oversees Transporeon products at Trimble, said: "AI only works when it understands your products, your people and your data." Most of the new features are already available.
IESYS: gate queues at logistics facilities usually trace back to a cause inside
Andrei Iacobiță, managing director at IESYS, a UK-based systems integrator for logistics facilities, wrote about the vehicle queues that build up at facility gates. A queue looks like it is happening at the gate, but he argues the cause is often elsewhere — loading-bay availability, processing speed inside, or how vehicle arrivals are spaced out. His proposed fix: identify vehicles early with number-plate recognition cameras and share that data with the facility's management software, so the gate system shifts from merely recording traffic to coordinating vehicle flow with actual processing capacity.
Major Automation InvestmentManufacturing PlantUnited States
Amazon commits over $100 million to a new Indiana plant that supplies robot parts
Amazon announced in September that it will build a new manufacturing facility in Greenwood, Indiana. The investment exceeds $100 million, expected to create 300 jobs, with an opening planned for 2028. Parts made there will supply Amazon's logistics facilities and robot fleet across North America. The company has already built more than a million robots and deployed them across more than 300 logistics facilities worldwide.
IFR: the world's operating stock of industrial robots reaches 5 million
The International Federation of Robotics (IFR), headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, reported that the number of industrial robots operating in factories worldwide reached 5 million in 2025, up 9% from the year before. IFR President Jane Heffner said: "The new mark of 5 million robots is more than double the number seven years ago." China accounted for 59% of new installations, while Japan installed 36,219 units, down 19%, dropping from second to third place worldwide.
Feather Robotics sells a $30,000 modular robot built for developers
Feather Robotics, a US startup, sells a modular robot to developers for $30,000. Where Tesla and Figure build both the hardware and the AI model in-house, Feather Robotics provides only the hardware, letting customers choose from multiple AI models, including NVIDIA and Skild, to run on it. Co-founder Hoa Mai said: "You can't buy a Tesla robot today and develop on top of it." Revenue has already passed $1 million, and its price is about half that of the H2 Edu, made by China's Unitree, seen as a rival.
