HIVE and føtex Enter Co-Innovation Partnership to Pilot Humanoid Robots in føtex Stores

HIVE and føtex have entered into a multi-year partnership to develop and pilot a new retail robotics application for føtex, exploring how humanoid robots can support in-store operations such as shelf replenishment.

føtex is widely recognised as one of the most innovative players in the retail industry and has previously been a first mover in areas such as self-checkout and unattended stores. With this partnership, føtex is now taking the next step by testing whether humanoid robots can assist with filling shelves in supermarkets.

The initial pilots will take place at night, when stores are closed to customers, allowing robots to operate in a controlled and safe environment.

"Grocery stores and supermarkets are designed to function optimally for customers moving around the store. This makes traditional industrial robots unsuitable for retail environments. With humanoid robots, we gain a robot with the same physical form factor as a human — allowing them to move naturally and safely around the store."

— Simon Kudsk, Operations Director, føtex

Pilot Before Summer 2026

HIVE Robots plans to launch the first pilot before summer 2026. A dedicated team of more than 10 robot software engineers is currently developing and training the system, with the goal of having the first operational version running in føtex stores within this timeframe.

"Training robots and deploying them in real stores is essential for collecting the data needed to continuously improve their capabilities. The more time robots spend operating in real environments, the better they become every single day. With robots and AI, we are now at a stage similar to where conversational AI was two to three years ago."

— Jakob Sand, Founder, HIVE Robots

Long-Term Vision

HIVE's long-term vision is that every store will operate with three to five humanoid robots, working 24/7 and supporting store staff with a range of operational tasks. The robots will be supervised and supported by employees, enabling seamless integration into daily store operations while improving availability, efficiency, and consistency across stores.