Develops and produces autonomous scanning robots with AI image recognition for digital store twins in brick-and-mortar retail.

Ubica Robotics GmbH

BremenNew on Amplifa

2020Founded

70+Employees

BremenLocation

250+Robots in live operation (2025)

About Ubica Robotics

Ubica Robotics GmbH is a technology company based in Bremen that develops, produces and operates autonomous scanning robots for brick-and-mortar retail. The robotics systems with AI image recognition capture sales floors, shelves and goods and from these create digital twins of the store as a basis for out-of-shelf detection, facing analysis, product verification, price tag validation and planogram compliance checks. Data processing takes place decentrally directly on the robot (edge processing), so that only minimal, compressed data is transmitted and no raw images leave the store. Integration into retail customers' existing systems is achieved via standardized APIs, cloud backend or FTP; via a patented interface, the robot connects to the existing security infrastructure. The company is a university spin-off from the EU research project REFILLS and employs more than 70 staff. Development and production take place in Germany at the Bremen site.

Site: Bremen
Processes: Autonomous scanning robots for shelf scanning in retail, Digital twins of sales floors, AI image recognition: out-of-shelf detection, Facing analysis, Product verification, Price tag validation, Planogram compliance checks, AI forecasts for inventory data / supply chain optimization
Materials: LiDAR and image data fusion, AI image recognition, Edge Processing
Founded: 2020
Employees: 70+
Industries: Brick-and-mortar retail, Retail (store operators)

01
On-site potential check (test-area scanning and data analysis)
02
Validation in live operation in pilot stores with KPI measurement
03
Regional scaling and system integration
04
Company-wide rollout to all stores
05
Continuous operation incl. 24/7 and data provision via APIs

Technology

LiDAR

LiDAR and image data fusion

Fusion of LiDAR and image data for precise mapping of the sales floor as the basis for the digital store twin.

KI-BER

AI image recognition

Image recognition algorithms analyze shelves with regard to out-of-shelf situations, facings, product placement and price tags.

EDGE

Edge Processing

Data processing directly on the robot reduces bandwidth requirements and ensures maximum data sovereignty.

Locations

Bremen

Autonomous scanning robots (hardware)
Cloud data backend

Systems

**Autonomous scanning robot**Robotics with AI image recognition · Brick-and-mortar retail

**Scanning robot in the shelf aisle**Autonomous navigation · Shelf scanning

**Digital store twin**Data backend · Shelf and inventory analysis

Inside the production

Industries

Brick-and-mortar retailRetail (store operators)

Additional services

Autonomous scanning robots for shelf scanning in retailDigital twins of sales floorsAI image recognition: out-of-shelf detectionFacing analysisProduct verificationPrice tag validationPlanogram compliance checksAI forecasts for inventory data / supply chain optimizationEdge data processing (data minimization)Integration into existing systems via standardized APIs / cloud backend / FTPPatented system integration into existing security infrastructureOn-site potential check (test-area scanning and data analysis)Validation in live operation (pilot stores with KPI measurement)Regional scaling and company-wide rollout24/7 operation incl. unlit areasOn-site setup by service technicians

History

2017
Development start within the EU research project REFILLS
2020
EXIST research transfer for university spin-off; founding of Ubica Robotics GmbH; successful seed funding round
2022
Start of series production with more than 50 robots in live operation; Series A funding round; Science Prize 2022 "best startup in retail" (EHI Foundation, GS1 Germany); TechTransfer Award 2022 "best robotics spin-off in Europe" (euRobotics)
2023
ZukunftHandel Award 2023, 1st place in the category Innovation Strategists (HDE and Google)
2024
reta europa awards 2024 "Best AI & Robotics Application" (EHI Retail Institute and Lebensmittelzeitung)
2025
Series B funding round; more than 250 robots in live operation; more than 70 employees
2026
Presentation of the latest robot generation at EuroShop 2026