Exotec has officially opened Imaginarium, its new technology and industrial headquarters in Lille, France. Rocking Robots attended the opening, where co-founders Romain Moulin (CEO) and Renaud Heitz shared their vision about the site as a cornerstone of Exotec’s long-term strategy for warehouse automation, industrial scale-up, and European manufacturing.
According to the founders, Imaginarium is not primarily about architecture, but about creating the conditions for fast innovation, efficient industrialization, and global execution. The site brings together R&D, robot assembly, systems integration, software development, and operational support in a single location.
Lille as the anchor of global operations
Exotec was founded ten years ago and relocated early from Paris to Lille, a decision the company still frames as strategic. Lille sits at the center of major European logistics corridors, between France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, and the UK, and close to major ports and distribution networks.
From this base, Exotec has expanded globally. After its first customer deployment with French e-commerce company Cdiscount, the company scaled across Europe, entered Japan through a long-term strategic customer relationship, and later expanded to North America, with a major presence in Atlanta. More recently, Exotec has grown into Central Europe and South Korea, supporting customers in sectors ranging from retail and food distribution to automotive parts logistics. Exotec reached unicorn status in 2022 and continues to scale its installed base worldwide.
From robots to full warehouse systems
During the press conference, the founders described Exotec’s transition from a pure robot manufacturer to a full warehouse integration company. While the company initially focused on its Skypod autonomous robots, its offering now spans complete warehouse flows.
This includes modules for pallet handling, depalletization, carton erecting and closing, and software that orchestrates operations from inbound receiving to outbound shipping. At the center of this architecture is Exotec’s warehouse execution system, which coordinates robots, hardware, and software as a single operational system.
The goal, according to Exotec, is to combine high throughput with long-term flexibility, allowing warehouses to evolve as volumes, product mixes, and distribution models change.
Why Exotec is not betting on humanoid robots
CEO Romain Moulin addressed the topic of humanoid robots directly, stating that they are not a practical solution for Exotec’s warehouse focus. In his view, a warehouse should be treated as a machine in itself, designed as an integrated automated system rather than a space filled with human-like robots.
He drew a comparison with automotive engineering: you do not put a humanoid into an electric car to replace the driver’s actions, you automate the car. The same logic applies to warehouses. Exotec’s Skypod robots, for example, can climb racks up to 14 meters high, something that would be impractical and unsafe for humanoid robots that would need to climb ladders.
Moulin also pointed to mechanical complexity. An autonomous mobile robot typically has around six moving parts, while a humanoid robot can have 70 or more. In large-scale logistics environments, simplicity, reliability, and maintainability are critical.
At the same time, Moulin acknowledged that investment in humanoid robotics is positive for the broader robotics ecosystem. Developments in humanoids accelerate innovation in areas such as computer vision, artificial intelligence, and gripper technology, all of which directly benefit warehouse automation.
Vision and AI as key drivers
Exotec sees the robotics market increasingly driven by advances in vision and AI. Perception, software intelligence, and system-level orchestration are becoming more decisive than mechanical novelty alone. These technologies play a central role in improving robot autonomy, system performance, and adaptability in complex warehouse environments.
This emphasis is reflected in Exotec’s R&D profile. Around 10 percent of the company’s revenue is reinvested in research and development, with approximately 200 engineers working across mechanics, electronics, robotics software, embedded systems, data platforms, and AI. Exotec holds more than 400 patents across Europe, the US, and Asia.
Scale of Skypod deployments
Exotec also shared updated figures on its installed base. To date, the company has sold approximately 14,000 Skypod systems, including around 10,000 units of the earlier generation and 4,000 units of the newer generation. These systems are deployed across a growing number of large-scale warehouse installations worldwide.
Imaginarium houses Exotec’s robot assembly operations, but the company emphasized that manufacturing is based on global supply chains. Components are sourced internationally and selected for performance and cost efficiency. For example, Exotec sources batteries from China when they offer the best balance of quality and cost.
The founders highlighted that while a Skypod robot may take roughly ten hours to assemble in Lille, the production of its components can represent around one hundred hours of manufacturing work distributed across suppliers worldwide. Imaginarium’s role is to integrate, test, validate, and scale these systems efficiently.
