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Symbotic warehouse system
Courtesy of Symbotic · Press kit, editorial use (opens symbotic.com)

Symbotic warehouse system

by SymboticUS

ScalingStage 5 of 5

Running at Walmart and other retailers, with a large backlog of sites to build.

Updated 2 Jul 2026Checked 25 Sep0 updates this week

Milestones

Next · Build out the backlog of contracted customer sites
  1. GreenBox joint venture with SoftBank2023Complete.
  2. Build out the backlog of contracted customer sitesNowCurrent milestone.

Most important updates

  • 2 Jul 2026
  • 6 May 2026
  • 31 Mar 2026
  • 24 Nov 2025
  • Jan 2025

Current obstacles

  • Installation speedEach system is a big construction project. Revenue depends on how fast sites get built and switched on.

Physics limits

  • Perfect pallet stacking is computationally intractablePacking mixed boxes stably is a 3D bin-packing problem, which is NP-hard: the best answer can't be found quickly at scale. Software settles for good-enough heuristics.
  • Speed is capped by accelerationA cart can speed up and brake only as hard as wheel friction and the load's grip allow. Short aisle trips are dominated by acceleration, not top speed.
  • Tall structures need very flat floorsRails many metres high magnify tiny floor tilts. Buildings need floors flat to within millimetres, which limits which warehouses can be retrofitted.

How it works

4 parts
Symbotic's wheeled bots racing along a level of the storage structure, fetching cases from the racks at the sides
Symbotic's wheeled bots racing along a level of the storage structure, fetching cases from the racks at the sidesCourtesy of Symbotic · Press kit, editorial use (opens symbotic.com)
Storage

Dense multi-level structure

Cases are stored in a tall steel structure with narrow aisles, holding far more goods in the same building than pallet racks.

Bots

Fleets of fast robot carts

Autonomous carts race along the aisles and levels, fetching and storing individual cases rather than whole pallets.

Palletising

Arms build mixed pallets

Robot arms stack cases into mixed pallets, ordered for stability and for the aisles of the store they are going to.

Software

AI plans every move

Central software schedules thousands of bot and arm moves at once to meet each store's order on time.

Spec sheet

SpecSymbotic warehouse system
Backlog~$22.5B (Sep 2025)R (reported)

R reported by the company

Update log

5 updates

Thu 2 Jul

  • Minor: PressCommercial

Wed 6 May

  • Minor: PressCommercial

Tue 31 Mar

  • Minor: PressCommercial

Mon 24 Nov 2025

  • Minor: FilingCommercial

Jan 2025

  • Major: FilingCommercial

About Symbotic

The team behind Symbotic warehouse system

Symbotic

Robotic warehouse systems

Symbotic builds robotic systems that store, fetch and stack cases in distribution centres. Walmart is its biggest customer. It bought Walmart's robotics unit in January 2025 and had about $22.5B of backlog in September 2025.

  • Backlog of about $22.5B as of September 27, 2025, mostly from Walmart and the GreenBox venture.
  • Buying Walmart's robotics unit extends it into stores, automating pickup of online orders.
  • GreenBox, a joint venture with SoftBank, offers Symbotic systems as warehouse-as-a-service.
Founded
200719 yrs
Headquarters
United States
Status
Public
Valuation
public
Works in
RoboticsWarehouse & logistics
Coverage
1 program · 5 updateslatest 2 Jul 2026checked 25 Sep
People
Rick Cohen (opens symbotic.com)Founder, Chairman & CEO
Primer