Supermarkets in Denmark Are Testing Humanoid Robots to Stock Shelves

Føtex, a Danish supermarket chain, is testing humanoid robots built to stock shelves during night shifts. The idea is that automating routine work will ease the load on staff and let employees spend more time serving customers.

The robots come from the Danish startup Hive Robots. According to the company's representatives, they have arms, legs and fingers, so they can carry out tasks in spaces designed for humans. That means they can work on the sales floor without stores having to be remodelled or their existing infrastructure changed, which removes a common obstacle to bringing robots into retail.

The piece also mentions a separate company, Destro, a startup running pilot projects at logistics facilities in the U.S. It has come out of stealth mode and raised $8 million in seed funding. Destro builds an AI platform that coordinates robots and workers in warehouses, and it does not manufacture robots itself.

The available text gives no detail on how many stores or robots are involved in the Føtex test, how long it will run, or how well the robots have performed so far. What it does establish is that humanoid robots are moving from concept to trial in Danish grocery retail, and that the stated aim is to take over repetitive night-time work rather than replace customer-facing roles.