Theseus Robotics: Theo Picks Orders and Restocks Grocery Shelves

Two shifts in the supermarket aisle

A grocery order arrives while shoppers are in the aisles. Someone needs to collect every item, pack it in a tote and leave it where the store can hand it off. [1][2]

After closing, cases in the stockroom still need to make it onto the shelves. [1][2]

Theseus Robotics built Theo to work both shifts. By day it picks online grocery orders. Overnight it moves stock from the back room to the shelf. [2][5]

Theo runs on hardware retailers can deploy

Theseus builds the operating system and AI models for off-the-shelf wheeled humanoids. The team calls a robot running that software Theo. [2][5]

Theo uses the store’s delivery list and shelf layout to decide where products go. [2]

Theo also checks what it finds on the shelf while it works. The same trip can flag an empty space, an item in the wrong spot or stock that needs attention. [1][2][5]

One route, one grocery order

During the day, Theo receives an online order and follows a route through the aisles while the store is open. It picks each item into the order’s tote and leaves the finished tote at a designated pickup point. [5]

Two Theo robots are in live store deployments. Theseus reports a restocking rate of up to 400 units an hour. [2][5]

The company filmed Theo in a Zürich store and is lining up additional retail pilots. [2][3][5]

Built by a team that knows the store and the robot

Samarth Malhotra, Kristóf Floch, Ádám Weinhardt-Kovács and Jianwen Cao founded Theseus Robotics in 2026. The team joined Y Combinator’s Fall 2026 batch. [2][5]

Samarth previously built a supply-chain business. Kristóf brings research in robot control, Ádám has deployed pick-and-place systems, and Jianwen leads research across areas including robot mapping and teleoperation. [2][5]

Retailers can book an in-person preview to discuss their stores and the work they want Theo to handle. [4]

The bigger picture

Grocery inventory still has to make the last trip from the stockroom to the shelf, and from the shelf to the shopper. Theseus is putting Theo to work on both legs of that trip. [1][2]