The Mobile Robot Company has won the IFOY Industrial Truck of the Year Award 2026 for a self-driving pallet jack designed to keep warehouse operators in control while automating repetitive transport work.
COPENHAGEN, Denmark and STUTTGART, Germany, June 29, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- A young Danish robotics company has won one of intralogistics' most recognized international awards, placing a new kind of self-driving pallet jack alongside products from some of the largest names in the material handling industry.
The Mobile Robot Company received the IFOY AWARD 2026 in the category Industrial Truck of the Year for its J1600 self-driving pallet jack. The vehicle is designed to be used both manually and autonomously, allowing warehouse operators to handle complex parts of the job themselves while letting the machine take over repetitive transport between defined locations.
The award points to a broader shift in warehouse automation. While the industry has spent years developing fully automated systems, most pallet handling in warehouses and factories is still done manually. For many companies, especially small and medium-sized operations, the gap between a conventional pallet jack and a full automation project remains too wide.
The J1600 is aimed at that gap. Instead of replacing the operator entirely, it works as a human-in-the-loop tool. The operator can pick up a pallet, choose a destination on the touchscreen, and send the pallet jack on an autonomous delivery run. The robot can then return, park, or continue to another saved location.
The award carries weight in the sector because IFOY is not decided by a simple application or public vote. For the 2026 competition, 49 products and solutions were entered, 17 reached the finals, and each finalist went through the multi-stage IFOY Audit during TEST CAMP INTRALOGISTICS. The process includes the IFOY Test, a scientific Innovation Check, and an evaluation by an independent international jury of trade journalists, with products assessed against comparable solutions already on the market rather than simply against one another.
The IFOY jury recognized the vehicle for making automation more accessible and practical, particularly for companies that may not have the budget, time, or internal resources for a large-scale automation project. In its assessment, IFOY highlighted the J1600's dual-mode concept, intuitive operation, straightforward integration, and ability to deliver productivity gains with limited implementation effort.
The Mobile Robot Company was founded in November 2024, launched its first product in January 2026, and entered the Industrial Truck category against Crown and STILL, part of KION Group. Both are long-established global players in forklift and warehouse equipment.
For a startup barely more than a year old, winning in that field is notable. It suggests that the industrial truck market may be opening to smaller robotics companies that approach automation less as a large engineering project and more as a practical operator tool.
The J1600 can be operated like a standard electric pallet jack, but it can also navigate autonomously using 3D LiDAR SLAM supported by an industrial NVIDIA Jetson AI computer. It is designed for floor-to-floor pallet transport in indoor environments such as goods receiving, storage, production, and shipping.
The vehicle can carry up to 1,600 kg, lift up to 1.6 m, and drive at up to 5.4 km/h. According to the IFOY jury evaluation, it can reduce manual work by up to 80 percent on repetitive transport tasks.
A central part of the design is ease of use. The J1600 is intended to work out of the box without mandatory Wi-Fi, extensive IT setup, or system integration. Operators can be trained in about 30 minutes. New destinations can be added by manually driving the pallet jack to a location and pressing "Save Location" on the touchscreen.
That approach differs from many traditional automation systems, where new routes, storage points, or process changes may require technical configuration or integration work. With the J1600, the operator teaches the machine by performing the task directly.
"Warehouse automation has often been presented as a choice between manual work and full automation," said Emil Hauch Jensen, CEO and co-founder of The Mobile Robot Company. "We believe there is a large space in between, where robots can support the operator instead of replacing the operator. That is the space we built the J1600 for."
The company's positioning reflects a practical reality in many warehouses. Operators are still needed for judgment-based work: handling difficult loads, dealing with exceptions, adapting to changing layouts, and making quick decisions on the floor. The J1600 leaves those decisions with people, while automating the walking and transport that consume time and energy.
IFOY's Innovation Check described the J1600 as a "game changer for low-threshold automation in intralogistics," pointing to its combination of industrial AI performance and intuitive operation. The IFOY Test Report also noted that the vehicle addresses the need for flexible automation without the complexity and cost of large-scale automation projects.
Safety is handled through a layered architecture that includes 3D LiDAR mapping, two 2D safety LiDARs, emergency stop functions, certified components, speed-dependent safety zones, and a 360-degree safety field. The J1600 is CE marked and designed to meet EU and US safety standards, including ISO 3691-4 and ANSI/ITSDF B56.5.
The product also supports VDA 5050 and API integration, making it possible to connect the vehicle to larger fleet or automation systems if needed. However, integration is not required for basic use, which is central to the product's market position.
The Mobile Robot Company says the J1600 is aimed at a large part of the market that has not yet adopted automation. This includes smaller manufacturers, warehouses, third-party logistics providers, grocery and FMCG distribution sites, and larger facilities with many local material flows that are too small or too changeable for conventional automation projects.
The company has already established distributor partnerships in eight countries and says additional partners are being added as it prepares for international sales.
For the Danish startup, the IFOY award provides independent validation at an early stage. For the wider industry, the win highlights an important question: whether the next wave of warehouse automation will be driven not only by more advanced robotics, but by machines that are simple enough for ordinary warehouse teams to use without changing the way they work.
About The Mobile Robot Company
The Mobile Robot Company ApS is a Danish robotics company developing mobile robot solutions for internal material handling in warehouses and factories. The company was founded in November 2024 by Emil Hauch Jensen and Odin Kudahl Skovsted. Its first product is the J1600 self-driving pallet jack.
Media Contact
Emil Hauch Jensen, The Mobile Robot Company ApS, 45 88 10 90 12, [email protected], https://www.mobilerobot.com/
Odin Kudahl Skovsted, The Mobile Robot Company ApS, 45 88 10 90 12, [email protected], https://www.mobilerobot.com/
SOURCE The Mobile Robot Company ApS
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