SMART ROBOTICS BV

Their core work

Smart Robotics BV is a Dutch robotics SME specialising in autonomous piece-picking systems for logistics and warehousing environments. Their core work centres on robot arm control, machine learning for manipulation, and the handling of high-speed physical impacts — the kinds of real-world challenges that arise when robots must pick diverse, unpredictably positioned items at commercial throughput rates. In the NextPerception project they extended their scope to encompass the sensing stack: radar, lidar, and time-of-flight sensors combined with edge-computed, explainable AI to make robots situationally aware of humans and their environment. In practical terms, they build the technology that lets a robot see what is in front of it, decide how to grasp it, and act quickly and safely enough to be useful in a real warehouse.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Smart Robotics entered H2020 with a clear focus on the actuation and control side of autonomous robotics: teaching robots how to move, grasp, and handle impacts during manipulation tasks. As their second project began in the same year (2020), the keyword set broadened dramatically toward perception and intelligence — radar, lidar, edge computing, explainable AI, and human monitoring — suggesting the company is building out a full-stack autonomous system rather than staying a pure manipulation specialist. The direction is toward robots that not only act skillfully but also understand their environment and can operate safely alongside people, which aligns with growing regulatory and market pressure around human-robot collaboration in logistics.

Smart Robotics is moving from manipulation-only expertise toward full-stack autonomous systems that integrate advanced sensing, on-device AI, and human-safety awareness — making them a more complete partner for industrial automation projects.

How they like to work

Smart Robotics has participated in both projects as a consortium partner rather than a coordinator, indicating they position themselves as a specialist contributor bringing specific robotics or sensing technology rather than taking project leadership. Their two projects together brought in 49 unique partners across 10 countries — exceptionally broad for only two participations — which means they are comfortable operating inside large, multi-stakeholder research consortia. This pattern suggests they are effective at plugging their commercial product and real-world validation capacity into academic-led projects, offering the applied test-bed that university partners often need.

With 49 unique partners across 10 countries from just two projects, Smart Robotics has built a notably wide European network relative to their size and participation history. Their connections span robotics research institutes, sensor manufacturers, and industrial end-users primarily across Western and Northern Europe.

What sets them apart

Smart Robotics occupies a rare position as a commercial-product SME that brings a working, deployed piece-picking robot into research consortia — not a prototype, but a product tested under real logistics conditions. This means academic or large-industrial partners get access to a genuine validation environment and a company with direct customer feedback from warehouses, which most university robotics groups cannot offer. For a consortium building toward TRL 7–9, Smart Robotics bridges the gap between laboratory research and market-ready application.

Highlights from their portfolio

• I.AM.
  The largest funding award (EUR 391,122) and the project most directly aligned with Smart Robotics' core commercial product, making it their most strategically central H2020 participation.
• NextPerception
  Demonstrates Smart Robotics' expansion beyond manipulation into multi-modal perception (radar, lidar, time-of-flight) and explainable AI, signalling a deliberate move toward full-stack autonomous systems.