IERA Award 2026
Flying warehouse robot impresses the jury
The Swiss deep-tech company Verity has been awarded the 2026 IERA Award for its autonomous indoor drone system. The flying robots monitor inventory levels autonomously, operate without GPS, and are already in use in approximately 200 warehouses worldwide.
The 2026 IERA Award goes to Verity for the development and successful market launch of an autonomous indoor drone system for logistics and retail. The drones navigate autonomously through warehouses, scan barcodes, detect inventory discrepancies, and automatically return to their charging stations. A cloud-based platform controls the fleets and continuously optimizes their performance.
Autonomous aerial inventory monitoring
Each drone is equipped with built-in autonomous capabilities for real-time navigation and obstacle avoidance. The inventory data collected is integrated directly into warehouse management systems. According to Verity, the systems can operate autonomously for months and require only two to three battery changes per year.
Every day, the drones capture around 500,000 images, which are used to further develop the technology. The systems are currently in use at approximately 200 warehouses worldwide.
“With its aerial robotics technology, Verity has succeeded in developing a mature product and bringing it to market, thereby supporting its customers,” said Jim Ostrowski, chair of the IERA Awards Committee. “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.”
“It is a great honor to be recognized by the leading organizations in the robotics industry,” added Markus Hehn, co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Verity. “We thank the jury for recognizing our team’s achievements and for presenting us with the prestigious 2026 IERA Award.”
Other finalists included Open Navigation, with its open-source navigation solution Nav2 for autonomous mobile robots, and Innok Robotics, with its Induros mobile robot system for intralogistics automation.
Announcement of the 2027 IFR Global Robotics Award
In addition, the International Federation of Robotics announced the launch of the IFR Global Robotics Award 2027. The new award is intended to recognize industry-oriented robotics innovations that offer significant social or economic benefits. The call for entries will open in November 2026.
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