The partners will deploy up to 25 AI-controlled robots in a two-phase approach at an Otto Group logistics center to test the automatic processing of returned items
At a glance
- At Otto Group's logistics center in Poland, returns will be grasped, identified, assessed, and sorted by up to 25 AI-controlled dual-arm robots from Sereact.
- The robots run on Cortex, Sereact's Physical AI model, which can recognize and handle items it has never encountered - no product-specific teaching, no fixed item catalog.
- Cortex is trained and validated with NVIDIA Isaac Sim, NVIDIA Isaac Lab and NVIDIA Cosmos, so lessons from the returns line reach the robots in days, not weeks.
- Under a Robotics-as-a-Service model, Sereact operates and maintains the systems. Employees hand over repetitive grasping and lifting and take on supervision, exception handling and quality checks.
HAMBURG, Germany and STUTTGART, Germany, Oct. 28, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Otto Group and robotics software company Sereact today announced a two-phase approach for AI-controlled robots in one of retail's most complex manual tasks: inspecting and sorting returned customer orders.
Initially, ten AI-controlled dual-arm systems will be deployed at Otto Group's logistics center in Poland. In a second phase, 15 more robotic arms are planned to be added based on initial results, scaling the program to a total of 25. The two companies are jointly developing and refining the technology as part of the project, with Otto Group evaluating the potential for a broader rollout across its logistics network if the second phase is successful.
Few processes in e-commerce are as hard to automate as returns - items come back folded, crumpled, repackaged, and the assortment of a multi-category retailer never stops changing. Traditional automation depends on known products and predictable presentation, neither of which exists in returns. Cortex, Sereact's Physical AI model, is built for exactly this challenge: it generalizes objects it has never encountered and decides in real time how to grasp each item, assess its condition, and route it accordingly.
Cortex is built on NVIDIA's physical AI stack. Sereact uses NVIDIA Isaac Sim and NVIDIA Isaac Lab to turn real picks from the returns line into thousands of simulated variants, and NVIDIA Cosmos world foundation models to re-render them across garment states, packaging, materials and lighting. New policies are post-trained on NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs and tested against held-out cases before they reach the robots. When a robot struggles with an item, the fix can come back as a tested update within days instead of weeks.
The robots will be introduced in stages over the course of the project. Each stage will generate operational feedback that the partners can use to improve the systems and adapt them to the requirements of large-scale returns processing. This shared development process is intended to establish whether the technology can meet the reliability, flexibility, and quality standards required for broader use.
Working hand in hand with robots, people stay at the center of the process: employees will shift away from repetitive grasping and lifting toward supervision, exception handling, and final quality decisions - tasks that depend on experience and judgment.
"Our customers expect returns to be simple and fast - behind that lies a process that is time-critical and laborious, both for customers and for our business. Returns are notoriously hard to automate, and Physical AI has the potential to change that. This project lets us find out, at real scale, how far Physical AI can take us - an important step towards a more flexible and resilient supply chain," says Martin Umland, Group Vice President Supply Chain Management at Otto Group.
"A robot that only knows yesterday's catalog is of little use in a returns center. Cortex has to deal with whatever comes out of the next parcel. Every return the systems handle makes the model better at the next one," Dr. Ralf Gulde, CEO and Co-Founder, Sereact.
The partnership builds on Otto Group's series of investments in robotics across its logistics operations and forms part of the company's medium-term commitment to invest €350 million in technology and AI.
About Sereact
Sereact develops Physical AI software that enables robots to grasp, identify and handle objects they have never seen before. Founded in Stuttgart by Dr. Ralf Gulde and Marc Tuscher, the company raised a $116 million Series B in 2026. Customers include Otto Group, Zalando, IKEA, DHL, Rohlik, Arvato, alza.cz, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Daimler Truck. Find out more at sereact.ai
About Otto Group
With a strong heritage as a family business and firmly rooted values, the Otto Group is looking to the future with confidence. Over the past 75 and more years, the company has developed from a catalog-based mail order company into an international digital retail and services group with well over 30,000 employees and a large number of key companies, brands and holdings in over thirty countries, primarily in Germany, the rest of Europe and North America. In the 2025/26 financial year (28 February), the Otto Group generated revenues of 13.8 billion euros. As the largest online retailer of European origin, it is shaping the digital retail and digital services of the future by drawing on its strength, market significance and values. Driven by a passionate and entrepreneurial performance culture, the Group is exploiting its vast market expertise and technological competence to inspire its many millions of customers with high-quality products, unique choice of goods and an array of services. According to its own understanding, value-driven business practices and economic success are not mutually exclusive. Environmental protection has been one of the Otto Group's corporate objectives since 1986. In addition, the company takes environmental, social and digital aspects into account in its business activities and corporate decision-making.
Find out more at ottogroup.com
Press contacts
- Sereact: press@sereact.ai
- Otto Group: Marina Lenz, marina.lenz@ottogroup.com, +49 40 6461 6389
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/9f531c22-18d0-4cde-86e5-d05308235661
