What is the history of AGILOX?
We started our company in 2009 under the name INTREST, with focus on consulting for logistic applications. We then started getting into the channel contractor business, designing warehouse layouts and end-to-end material flow systems, from the unloading of trains through to the sorting machinery. We developed our own warehouse management system (WMS) and took on large-scale projects for multinational companies, designing small load carrier warehouses from scratch. Within these projects, we used to buy AGVs, and we did a couple of projects that showed us the limitations of AGVs at the time. Rather than accepting those limitations, we asked a more ambitious question: what would we do differently?
The biggest problem we experienced was that systems were inflexible. We started developing a vehicle looking at the software, not using any standard navigation or routing system but designing our own system from scratch.
That gave us the idea of creating a plug and play solution, this is one of the main USPs and differentiation to what is available on the market now. When you look at our autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), you will not find any licensed software because everything is in-house development. That gives us flexibility in designing the core and adapting it to the market. In 2017 we rebranded to AGILOX with the first exhibition of our vehicles being at LogiMAT in 2017.
In 2017 we started with a couple of vehicles as an early mover in the autonomous mobile robot (AMR) segment and we were lucky enough, being the first on the market. AGILOX quickly attracted a couple of multinational customers and has since expanded its operations across three continents.
Today the company employs around 250 people and serves approximately 350 customers worldwide. We cover a significant share of the DAX 40 companies and maintain our headquarters in Austria alongside offices in China and the United States.
What makes you different from other companies?
What differentiates us from other companies is our fully decentralised autonomous mobile robots (AMR) system, infrastructure-independent, and designed for speed.
Operating independently of the customers’ IT infrastructure eliminates a single point of failure, maximises flexibility and removes any associated cybersecurity risk.
From day one, results are visible. In an average production plant of a few thousand square metres, pick-up points, charging stations, and initial workflows are fully configured within 24 hours.
We developed a technology that can handle both simple and sophisticated triggering of workflows.
This plug-and-play simplicity opens the door to virtually any sector. AGILOX deliberately avoids locking itself into a single industry, with an active customer base spanning hotels, electronics, food and beverage, and automotive manufacturing.
What makes AGILOX unique?
Perhaps our most striking claim is a financial one. We are the only AMR provider that is profitable solely from AMR sales, without bundling robots into broader project contracts to absorb losses.
A lot of people are telling us it’s not possible, but it is possible, but only by differing in the key points to everyone else.
A further differentiator lies in our approach to software development.
By deploying our own AI agent within the development process, we can systematically build on existing features and improve them faster than a conventional engineering cycle would allow.
What are you demonstrating on your stand this year?
What we are showcasing this year is a major step forward in automated truck loading. A scenario that has historically resisted full automation due to the combination of tight spaces and human traffic.
Loading bays have always been a hotspot for workplace accidents, and it is easy to see why automation has struggled there. A standard truck offers just 2.5 metres of width. Put three pallets side by side, and you are left with roughly three centimetres between them.
That is nowhere near the ten-centimetre clearance that conventional safety fields require. What we are demonstrating here is a different approach. Inside the truck, the safety fields are switched off, but in their place, a dedicated safety zone is created around the loading area. If anyone enters, the vehicle stops immediately. Once it pulls back out, the system makes absolutely sure the safety fields are active again before anything else happens.
It sounds simple, but safe communication is actually the hardest part. The system must know at all times, with absolute certainty which vehicle is inside the truck operating without safety fields, and which is outside with full protection active.
How has it been accepted? Do people like the idea?
Absolutely. Everything we present at LogiMAT is grounded in detailed market research and direct customer feedback.
What kind of message do you want visitors to take away from your stand?
The key message is simple: everything we develop is built to be used without complexity. Even with truck loading, which sounds technically demanding, the experience is exactly what our customers already know. It is a plug and play solution, implemented fast, within established standards, and without any specialised software. And crucially, safety remains exactly the same level as always.
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