Danish startup wins IFOY for self-driving pallet jack

The Mobile Robot Company ApS won the IFOY AWARD 2026 for its J1600 self-driving pallet jack, a dual-mode vehicle designed to automate repetitive transport while keeping warehouse operators in control. The win signals growing industry interest in practical, human-in-the-loop automation for warehouses and factories.

Why it matters: - The IFOY win puts a spotlight on a different model of warehouse automation: tools that support workers instead of replacing them. - The J1600 is aimed at repetitive pallet transport, one of the most common but least meaningful warehouse tasks. - The award suggests growing demand for automation that is easier to deploy, especially for small and medium-sized operations.

What happened: - The Mobile Robot Company ApS won the IFOY AWARD 2026 in the Industrial Truck of the Year category for its J1600 self-driving pallet jack. - The award was announced after 17 finalists were evaluated during the multi-stage IFOY Audit at TEST CAMP INTRALOGISTICS in Dortmund. - The IFOY competition drew 49 entries in 2026. - The winners were chosen by an independent international jury of trade journalists. - The Mobile Robot Company was founded in November 2024 and launched its first product in 2026. - The company has distributor partnerships in eight countries.

The details: - The J1600 works as a conventional electric pallet jack in manual mode. - The operator can also send the vehicle autonomously between saved locations in warehouses and factories. - Operators can add new locations by driving the pallet jack to a spot and pressing “Save Location.” - Training takes around 30 minutes. - Wi-Fi is optional. - The system does not require mandatory IT infrastructure or system integration. - The J1600 can carry up to 1,600 kg. - The vehicle uses 3D LiDAR SLAM technology supported by an industrial NVIDIA Jetson AI computer. - The J1600 navigates dynamic warehouse and production environments. - The operator can take over immediately at any time. - The safety system includes 3D mapping, two 2D safety LiDARs, certified components, emergency stop functions and a 360-degree safety field. - The safety zone changes with the vehicle’s speed. - The IFOY jury highlighted the J1600’s dual-mode concept, intuitive operation, low barrier to entry and ability to make automation economically viable. - The IFOY Innovation Check described the J1600 as a “game changer” for low-threshold automation in intralogistics. - The IFOY Test Report said the J1600 addresses the need for flexible automation without the complexity and cost of large-scale automation projects.

Between the lines: - The award field included established industry players STILL, part of the KION Group, and Crown. - The result shows a young Danish startup competing against companies with decades of scale and engineering depth. - The J1600 points to a third path between fully manual transport and fully automated systems. - The company’s message is that warehouses need automation that works in real environments, with exceptions, improvisation and human judgment still in the loop. - More than one million pallet jacks are sold worldwide each year, and much of that work remains manual. - That makes the market large enough for low-friction automation to matter.

What's next: - The Mobile Robot Company is betting that adoption will grow through simple robots that warehouse teams can understand, trust and use quickly. - The company’s distributor footprint in eight countries gives it a base for further expansion. - The broader test for the J1600 will be whether operators and smaller sites embrace human-robot collaboration as a practical upgrade to everyday transport.

The bottom line: - The IFOY award validates a simple idea: in warehouses, the winning robot may be the one that makes workers faster, not obsolete.