Robotics starts with operations
Before generative AI became a board topic, warehouse automation already required software, machines, people, and service organizations to work as one system.
Marcel Haas led engineering for the technical foundation around AutoStore systems in the Swisslog environment. The public project record describes warehouse management, conveyor and picking systems, real-time computing, monitoring, automation, international on-site service, and worldwide 24×7 support.
That context matters because a physical system cannot hide weak operations behind a polished interface.
Availability is part of the design
Robotics engineering includes more than motion and perception. It includes:
- clear operating ownership and escalation;
- observability across software and hardware boundaries;
- safe behavior when data, networks, or models fail;
- incident response and service access;
- documentation, training, and operational handover.
These are not aftercare. They are part of the system.
The Misty bridge
The CNEXT AI Labs team Marcel co-leads later developed a project on the open Misty social-robotics platform. The published record connects Azure Speech, Azure OpenAI, video analysis, Power Automate, Logic Apps, HTTP APIs, WebSockets, and live ERP data.
The project demonstrates a different robotics layer: conversation, sensing, enterprise context, and human interaction on a physical platform. It is attributed to the CNEXT AI Labs team rather than to Marcel as a solo implementation.
Toward embodied enterprise systems
The next generation of enterprise AI will increasingly leave the browser. It will reach sensors, facilities, devices, mobile machines, and personal robots.
MH – Applied AI treats that direction seriously while keeping personal robotics labeled as an emerging practice. The near-term work is readiness: architecture, data boundaries, edge inference, supervision, integration, safety, and the operating model required before autonomy can be trusted.
Sources: Swisslog project record and Misty project record.