The deep-tech company Verity has won the international robotics prize “Award for Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Robotics & Automation” (IERA) 2026. The Zurich-based company, headquartered in Zurich, was recognized for the development and market launch of its intelligent warehouse platform.

According to a statement, the solution uses fully autonomous indoor drones that navigate warehouses without GPS or human intervention, scan barcodes and transmit inventory data directly to warehouse management systems. Discrepancies are automatically detected and reported.

The drones operate autonomously for several months and require no more than three battery changes per year. By continuously recording the physical movement of goods, inventories are captured more accurately, fewer staff are needed and costs can be reduced. The drones capture around 500,000 images in warehouses every day and use this data to improve the technology. Verity systems are currently in use in more than 200 warehouses in 15 countries, including at IKEA, Maersk, DSV and UPS.

“The jury was impressed by Verity’s extensive patent portfolio, solid business plan and the company’s pioneering role in bringing innovative technologies to market,” said Jim Ostrowski, chair of the IERA Award Committee. The IERA Award has been presented annually since 2005 by the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (IEEE/RAS), based in Piscataway in the US state of New Jersey, and the International Federation of Robotics (IFR), based in Frankfurt. For Verity, the statement says, it is a great honor to be recognized by the leading organizations in the robotics industry.

Verity founder and CEO Raffaelo D’Andrea will speak about the future of robotics at the Open-i innovation conference in Zurich in November. He is regarded as a pioneer at the interface between science and practice. The professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich) has already successfully founded, led and sold a company in the past: Kiva Systems was acquired by Amazon in 2012. The associated robotics solutions were implemented in Amazon warehouse centers around the world.

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Verity receives IERA Award for autonomous warehouse drones.

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