Rockwell Automation’s autonomous mobile robot OTTO has received the 2025 Award for Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Robotics & Automation (IERA). The award was announced on 19 November in Seoul. According to the International Federation of Robotics (IFR), OTTO was recognized for the development of an AMR system designed to transport heavy loads in manufacturing environments and to operate in fleets exceeding 100 units.
OTTO mobile robots are used for material handling tasks in factories, moving parts, pallets and supplies without human intervention. The system includes vehicle hardware and software for autonomous navigation, fleet management, factory integration and remote analytics. The software is designed to coordinate large AMR fleets and to adjust navigation speed while maintaining safety standards for operation around workers.
In a statement, Susanne Bieller, IERA Awards Chair and IFR General Secretary, said the jury regarded OTTO as a mature solution for AMR-based material handling. Ryan Gariepy, Vice President of Robotics at Rockwell Automation and formerly CTO and co-founder of OTTO, said the company viewed the award as recognition of its ongoing work in robotics development.
The IFR reported that transportation and logistics applications accounted for 52 percent of global professional service robot installations in 2024, with annual sales increasing by 14 percent.
Other finalists for the 2025 IERA Award included Aldakin of Spain for a robotic machining head intended to reduce dust emissions during composite material processing; Fourier Rehab of Shanghai for its lower-limb rehabilitation robot ExoMotus M4; and Youibot of Shenzhen for its dual-arm humanoid inspection robot MAIC-X.
Photo: IERA Award 2025 from left to right: Wanqiu Zhao, Youibot Robotics; Jake Kee, Fourier Rehab; Takayuki Ito, IFR President; Susanne Bieller, IFR General Secretary; Ryan Gariepy, Rockwell Automation; Ibai Inziarte-Hidalgo, Aldakin (copyright: KAR)
