# 309: How Physical AI Is Changing What's Possible in Warehouse Automation

- Show: [Manufacturing Happy Hour](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour)
- Published: 2026-11-03
- Length: 36m
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2026-11-03-309-how-physical-ai-is-changing-whats-possible-in-warehouse-automation
- Listen: http://manufacturinghappyhour.com

## Summary

Josh Cloer, General Manager of Nomagic, and Onur Uranli, Director at Intelligrated, discuss how physical AI is transforming warehouse automation, contrasting the rigid precision of factory assembly lines with the high-variability environment of distribution centers. They explain that while manufacturing automation is mature, warehouses are playing catch-up by adopting flexible robotics and vision-language-action models to handle unpredictable items and recover from downtime. The guests emphasize that successful automation requires a holistic system design starting from the manufacturing floor, rather than treating pallet variability as a downstream problem to be fixed by expensive point solutions.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2026-11-03-309-how-physical-ai-is-changing-whats-possible-in-warehouse-automation#t=0) Introduction: Warehouse vs. Factory Automation Context
- [2:34](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2026-11-03-309-how-physical-ai-is-changing-whats-possible-in-warehouse-automation#t=154) The Journey of a Pallet: From Manufacturing to Warehouse
- [5:29](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2026-11-03-309-how-physical-ai-is-changing-whats-possible-in-warehouse-automation#t=329) Current State of Warehouse Automation: Manual vs. Automated
- [9:58](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2026-11-03-309-how-physical-ai-is-changing-whats-possible-in-warehouse-automation#t=598) Nomagic's Physical AI: Vision-Language-Action Models
- [12:23](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2026-11-03-309-how-physical-ai-is-changing-whats-possible-in-warehouse-automation#t=743) Manufacturing vs. Warehouse Automation: Precision vs. Flexibility
- [18:32](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2026-11-03-309-how-physical-ai-is-changing-whats-possible-in-warehouse-automation#t=1112) Business Case Challenges and Timing of Automation
- [23:42](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2026-11-03-309-how-physical-ai-is-changing-whats-possible-in-warehouse-automation#t=1422) Who is Ahead: Manufacturing or Warehousing?
- [29:44](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2026-11-03-309-how-physical-ai-is-changing-whats-possible-in-warehouse-automation#t=1784) The Role of MHI's TRG in Ecosystem Collaboration

## Topics

- [Robotics & autonomy](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/robotics-and-autonomy)
- [Scaling production](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/scaling-production)
- [Design for manufacturing & NPI](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/design-for-manufacturing)
- [AI & machine learning](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/ai-and-machine-learning)

## Most relevant to

companies scaling up

## Mentioned

- Nomagic (company)
- Intelligrated (company)
- MHI (company)
- TRG (other)
- ASRS (other)
- PTC (company)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [Building robots that survive the warehouse](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-robot-report-podcast/2026-08-07-building-robots-that-survive-the-warehouse) (The Robot Report Podcast)
- [Intelligent Robots and the Warehouse of the Future](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-manufacturing-executive/2022-08-16-intelligent-robots-and-the-warehouse-of-the-future) (The Manufacturing Executive)
- [The State of Warehouse Automation](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-robot-report-podcast/2024-08-01-the-state-of-warehouse-automation) (The Robot Report Podcast)
- [AI in Warehousing: Akash Gupta's vision for the future](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-robot-report-podcast/2026-06-12-ai-in-warehousing-akash-guptas-vision-for-the-future) (The Robot Report Podcast)
- [End-Of-Line Automation With Ai: Inside Rapid Robotics Revolution](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/over-the-air/2024-11-14-end-of-line-automation-with-ai-inside-rapid-robotics-revolution) (Over the Air)

## Citing this page

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