Autonomous forklifts retrofit existing warehouses with no infrastructure changes, delivering ROI in under one year
SANTA CLARA, Calif., Oct. 7, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Riibotics, a deep-tech robotics innovator, today announced it will showcase its groundbreaking “brownfield robotic forklift” solutions at RoboBusiness 2025, taking place October 15–16 at the Santa Clara Convention Center. The company’s technology is designed to automate material handling in existing warehouses and factories—without requiring costly or disruptive infrastructure upgrades.
Autonomous forklifts that work in existing factories – Riibotics’ Brownfield Robotics
Defining a New Category: Brownfield Robotics
Riibotics is pioneering a new category of automation it calls “brownfield robotics.” Unlike “greenfield” automation, which requires new robot-ready facilities, Riibotics’ solutions retrofit into legacy environments. Leveraging advanced AI and perception, Riibotics forklifts navigate autonomously through unstructured and dynamic spaces, handling materials that are randomly placed or unorganized.
“Most industrial facilities can’t afford to rebuild their operations for automation,” said Seungmin Baek, CEO of Riibotics. “We designed brownfield robotics to meet that reality. Our autonomous forklifts adapt to existing facilities, seamlessly integrating human and robotic workflows while unlocking productivity gains that were previously out of reach.”
Proven in Real-World Operations
Riibotics has already validated its approach through a commercial project with a Tier 1 automotive supplier. In a congested, human-shared environment, Riibotics forklifts transported materials from the production line to the warehouse—without requiring magnetic tapes, QR codes, or other infrastructure. Using advanced perception, the system autonomously detected randomly placed materials, located empty storage slots, and completed fully hands-off material handling. The project delivered a payback period of less than one year, and the customer is now expanding deployment after seeing safe, efficient collaboration between humans and robots.
Strategic Push into the U.S. Market
RoboBusiness marks the start of Riibotics’ strategic expansion into the U.S. The company has already confirmed appearances at major supply chain and logistics events in early 2026, including RILA LINK, Manifest, and Modex. Riibotics is initially targeting intralogistics applications such as pallet transport, trailer loading/unloading, and cross-docking, and is seeking U.S. partners to accelerate adoption.
About Riibotics
Riibotics is a deep-tech robotics company developing full-stack autonomous robotic forklift technology to enhance productivity and safety in complex industrial environments. The company is backed by the Deep-tech TIPS (Tech Incubator Program for Startups) grant and has earned top honors at major startup competitions, including Try Everything and the KDB Startup Program.