Summary

• Körber is taking an undisclosed stake in NAiSE, a previously self-funded German software company established in 2017.
• NAiSE coordinates automated guided vehicles, autonomous mobile robots and manual industrial trucks through a common control platform.
• Its founders will retain operational management, while the partners explore further warehouse applications, including future humanoid robotics.

German technology group Körber is acquiring a stake in warehouse software specialist NAiSE, strengthening a partnership designed to coordinate robots and manually operated industrial vehicles from different manufacturers within the same production and logistics facilities.

The investment, announced on 22 October, extends an existing commercial relationship between the businesses. Körber will become a strategic investor in NAiSE, which was founded in 2017 and had previously financed its operations without external investment.

Körber intends to incorporate more of NAiSE’s fleet management capabilities into its Supply Chain business while supporting the software company’s international expansion. NAiSE will retain its existing commercial relationships, and founders Kai Przybysz-Herz, Robert Libert and Raphael Kusumoto will continue managing its operations.

The companies have not disclosed the investment amount, purchase price or percentage holding. The transaction therefore establishes a closer commercial relationship without providing enough financial information to assess NAiSE’s valuation or the capital available for expansion.

For warehouse operators, the partnership addresses a practical consequence of introducing automation over several years: equipment purchased at different times may use incompatible software, even when the machines perform related transport tasks within the same facility.

One control platform for different machines

NAiSE develops software that coordinates automated guided vehicles, autonomous mobile robots and manually operated industrial trucks. Its platform combines fleet, traffic, order and warehouse management functions, allowing transport tasks to be managed across equipment from multiple suppliers.

Automated guided vehicles generally follow specified routes or navigation arrangements, while autonomous mobile robots can use more flexible mapping and sensing to move through their surroundings. Manually operated forklifts present another requirement because software may assign tasks to drivers without directly controlling the vehicles.

A distribution centre may operate all three categories of equipment. If each fleet depends on its manufacturer’s own management application, employees can be left coordinating vehicle movements, charging schedules and transport orders through several separate interfaces.

NAiSE’s fleet management software provides a common layer through which compatible equipment can receive instructions and report its status. The platform is intended to help operators assign available vehicles to work and maintain a consolidated view of how transport activity is progressing.

Its traffic management functions are designed to coordinate vehicles sharing routes or operating areas. This can be useful where different machines must use the same corridors, cross loading zones or approach production stations without creating unnecessary congestion.

The platform also includes a guidance system for manually operated vehicles, allowing tasks and other instructions to be delivered to drivers. Because a human operator remains responsible for controlling the vehicle, the practical integration differs from that required for a fully automated robot.

The system’s order management functions connect transport requirements with the vehicles available to complete them. This can help a warehouse assign work across its fleet without requiring the surrounding business application to communicate separately with each manufacturer’s control software.

Standards reduce, but do not eliminate, integration work

NAiSE supports VDA 5050, a standardised interface intended to improve communication between mobile robots and fleet management systems. It can also integrate equipment through proprietary interfaces and other available connections where the standard is not supported.

That flexibility is relevant to facilities with older robots, manually operated equipment and a succession of automation projects. Replacing an entire fleet merely to achieve compatible software control can be expensive, particularly when existing machines remain mechanically suitable for their tasks.

However, support for a common standard does not guarantee that every robot provides identical capabilities. Differences in navigation, charging arrangements, safety systems and the way equipment reports its operating state can still require specialist configuration.

The warehouse’s physical layout creates further constraints. Vehicles may need to interact with doors, lifts, conveyors, production equipment and pedestrian areas. A control platform therefore needs accurate information about the site as well as connections to the machines themselves.

NAiSE offers integration with warehouse management, warehouse execution and warehouse control systems. These applications determine what goods need to be moved and how work is organised, while the fleet layer manages aspects of how the available transport equipment responds.

Connecting those functions can reduce duplicated instructions and improve visibility, but it requires agreement about which system has authority over particular decisions. Conflicting commands or inaccurate location information can interrupt operations even when each individual application functions correctly.

According to NAiSE’s published technical documentation, its software has managed 61 automated guided vehicles and autonomous mobile robots at a single customer site. The company says that figure reflects the needs of an earlier project rather than a technical upper limit.

It has not supplied an independently verified maximum fleet capacity or published comparative data establishing how much its software improves warehouse throughput against competing approaches.

Commercial independence remains part of the deal

Körber supplies warehouse software and automation technologies to customers operating complex logistics networks. Taking a stake in NAiSE provides a closer relationship with a developer specialising in coordinating equipment that may have been supplied by several manufacturers.

For NAiSE, Körber offers established customer relationships and an international sales presence. Its ability to keep working with other system integrators and equipment suppliers is equally relevant because the platform’s commercial proposition relies on supporting mixed fleets rather than exclusively favouring one manufacturer.

The companies say that independence will be maintained, with the founders retaining operational control. Customers evaluating future contracts will still need to examine the software’s compatibility commitments, licensing terms and arrangements for supporting integrations with competing suppliers.

NAiSE offers recurring software licences, with prices depending on fleet size and the modules selected. Initial configuration, enterprise system connections and customer-specific adaptations can attract additional charges, while support packages vary according to the service required.

These costs should be assessed against the benefits of more coordinated operations. A business may reduce time spent managing separate fleet applications, but the economic return depends on equipment utilisation, transport demand, integration expense and the reliability of the completed system.

Existing warehouse automation projects illustrate how demanding large installations can become. Techopia previously examined a 127-robot fashion fulfilment project, where the relationship between equipment and operational processes was central to the investment case.

Humanoid applications remain prospective

Körber and NAiSE also intend to investigate applications involving humanoid robotics. That work would extend beyond coordinating mobile vehicles because humanoids can potentially undertake physical handling and manipulation tasks.

Such applications require information about objects, tools, physical interactions and safe operation around people. A robot may need to identify an item, grasp it and complete a handling task while also coordinating movement through the wider facility.

The existing fleet management platform could provide some of the surrounding task allocation and movement coordination, but it would not by itself supply the perception, manipulation or safety capabilities required for a humanoid to perform warehouse work.

The October announcement does not identify an operating humanoid deployment produced by the partnership, a committed delivery timetable or verified performance results for those prospective applications.

Körber’s investment gives the companies a basis for extending their existing collaboration, while NAiSE remains available to work with other manufacturers and integrators. Commercial progress will depend on whether the combined offering can connect diverse equipment reliably and improve operations without forcing customers into costly replacement programmes.