Symbotic acquires cellumation to add compact warehouse sorting technology

Symbotic announced its acquisition of Germany’s cellumation on October 13, 2026, adding a sorting system that moves goods in any direction across a software-controlled surface. The warehouse robotics company plans to integrate the technology into its systems while keeping cellumation serving existing customers under its own name. The purchase price was not disclosed.

Based in Bremen, cellumation develops conveyor equipment for moving goods within facilities. Founded in 2017, it has more than 70 employees, according to the acquisition announcement. Its main technology, the celluveyor, is a modular alternative to traditional conveyor-based sorting, with software controlling how individual parts of the surface move products.

A sorting surface instead of conveyor routes

The celluveyor consists of hundreds of independently controlled cells. Each cell can move an item in any direction. The cells are hexagonal and use wheels that support movement in multiple directions, allowing the software to control an item’s route while it travels across the surface.

Symbotic intends to use that design in the next generation of its inbound and outbound robotic cells—the parts of its system that handle goods coming in and going out. It says the technology will simplify their architecture and free warehouse space for storage and other uses. The integration is part of Symbotic’s stated product roadmap.

The company expects to move more goods through its systems and handle a wider range of products in a fraction of the space required by traditional conveyors. It also sees potential to reduce capital equipment costs. Those are company expectations, not quantified results from the combined system; the announcement supplies no numerical comparison for the projected space, throughput or cost gains.

Just as importantly, cellumation will continue serving customers across multiple industries, bringing the benefits of the celluveyor to organizations wherever it can create value.

Hendrik Thamer, cellumation co-founder and CEO

Two sales channels, with the founders staying

The acquisition does not reserve the celluveyor exclusively for Symbotic installations. Symbotic chairman and CEO Rick Cohen said the product will be sold directly to customers and to other integrators, alongside its use in Symbotic’s own solutions. That gives the acquired technology a standalone commercial role as well as an internal engineering role.

Cellumation will continue operating from its Bremen headquarters. Thamer and fellow co-founder Claudio Uriarte, its chief technology officer, will remain with the business and lead its operations. Thamer described joining Symbotic as a way to gain the resources, scale and strategic partnership needed to accelerate cellumation’s vision globally.

The technology already has live deployments with postal, e-commerce and logistics operators worldwide, according to Symbotic. The company singles out facilities with constrained footprints as particularly relevant customers. Those existing deployments are distinct from the planned integration: cellumation brings an operating product and customer base, rather than only a design for future Symbotic equipment.

A European operating base

Symbotic also positions the deal as a way to strengthen its presence in Europe. Beyond the sorting technology, it says cellumation contributes established regional customer relationships, a record of automation deployments, experienced local leadership and a regional organization. The European expansion plan therefore rests partly on the people and customer connections that come with the business, not just on incorporating the celluveyor into warehouse systems.