At the IKEA store in Helsingborg, a small team in the warehouse has developed a simple and innovative solution that is entirely in the spirit of founder Ingvar Kamprad: warehouse operations using the AI-powered Moonwalkers robots.
It all started simply. An Ikea employee saw an ad for Moonwalkers robotic shoes, ordered a pair, and tested them at work. The result? A 16 percent increase in picking productivity per hour.
Adaptive AI technology
Moonwalkers are robotic shoes designed to be worn over regular shoes. These wheeled shoes also use adaptive AI technology to match each person’s natural gait. For warehouse workers who pick orders across large areas, these robotic shoes make a big difference by enabling more picks and a smarter way of working.
“Our colleagues have responded very positively—and so have our customers. There’s a genuine sense of excitement. People see something new, something that works, and it sparks their curiosity. That energy is what drives us to keep looking for better ways of doing things,” says Sebastian Carlius, Fulfilment Operations Manager at IKEA Helsingborg.
What makes this story special is how it began: not as a top-down directive, but as a team that saw an opportunity and decided to explore it. It is in that spirit—with curiosity, hands-on commitment, and a willingness to take responsibility and experiment—that IKEA was once founded in the heart of Småland.
