Nowaste advances automation with robot picking cell
Nowaste Logistics, one of Sweden’s leading third-party logistics (TPL) providers, has ordered a second robot picking cell from Cognibotics following the successful pilot of the first installation. Integrated with Nowaste’s AutoStore system delivered by Swisslog, the Cognibotics robot cell performs high-speed picking directly from AutoStore ports, enabling Nowaste to scale with greater operational robustness and a future-proof approach to automated order fulfilment, strengthening its commercial offering to TPL customers.
The Cognibotics material-handling robot, equipped with Sics.AI’s vision system, has been running in production at Nowaste with stable performance and reliable uptime. Based on these results, Nowaste is now expanding robotized picking as a strategic component of its warehouse operations.
“The first cell proved what we needed to know – that robotised picking can handle a diverse product assortment and still deliver the robustness and stability our TPL operations require,” said Patrik Johnfors, Head of Implementation and Solution Design at Nowaste Logistics. “A second cell is a clear strategic step for us, making our warehouses more resilient to seasonal peaks and better positioned to future-proof operations as customer demands evolve.”
Scaling capacity with high-speed, long-reach picking
For TPL providers, this picking cell validates that reach and speed are key to delivering high, stable picking capacity, enabling multiple presentations, totes, and hand-off points to be placed within reach. This supports flexible layout design, efficient batching, and smooth handling of mixed product flows. Capacity scales naturally as customer needs evolve, allowing warehouses to add robot cells without reconfiguring existing infrastructure.
“Nowaste is a strong example of how a modern TPL provider uses robotization to strengthen its operations – where robustness, capacity, and layout flexibility are key,” said Fredrik Malmgren, CEO of Cognibotics. “This second order is also an important milestone for us; it marks the first time our software automation foundation Juliet & Romeo is running in full production on a material-handling robot cell, proving that our software-defined motion is ready to scale across real-world logistics environments.”
Software-defined motion and AI vision for real-world logistics
In the AutoStore setup, the Nowaste picking cell brings together Cognibotics’ high-speed, long-reach robot with an advanced AI vision system capable of handling a highly diverse product mix. Powered by Cognibotics’ automation foundation Juliet & Romeo, the cell manages real-time robot motion, gripping, and conveyor hand-off while simplifying integration with Nowaste’s warehouse management and control systems.
By using a software-defined motion platform, Cognibotics enables Nowaste to adapt layouts, product flows, and item types over time without hardware redesign, an essential capability for TPL providers serving multiple customers with evolving needs.
