GreyOrange Butler
An Indian robot that lifts a 1,000-kg shelf and brings it to a human picker.
In one sentence
Butler is an Indian-built warehouse robot that ducks under shelves, lifts them up, and carries them across a giant warehouse floor.
The wow factor
Three things that make GreyOrange Butler genuinely impressive.
GreyOrange's founders met at BITS Pilani and built India's first robotics unicorn.
Flipkart's Pune warehouse uses 600+ Butlers — the largest AMR deployment in India.
Achieved unicorn valuation in 2021 — first Indian robotics company to do so.
How it works
A step-by-step breakdown, in plain English.
- 1QR codes on the warehouse floor mark every cell of the grid.
- 2Camera in the Butler's belly reads each QR code as it drives.
- 3A central fleet manager assigns each robot a shelf to fetch.
- 4Butler ducks under the shelf, lifts it (up to 1,000 kg), and carries it to a picker.
- 5After picking is done, Butler returns the shelf to its original position.
Where you've probably seen it
Featured in Flipkart's annual reports, Make-in-India films, and dozens of Indian business news stories. The Butler is one of the most-photographed Indian robots.
The team behind it
Founded in 2011 by IIT-Roorkee/BITS-Pilani alumni Samay Kohli and Akash Gupta. Headquartered in Gurgaon. Major funding from Mithril Capital, Tiger Global, and Project A.
The full story
GreyOrange was founded in 2011 in Gurgaon, India by IIT alumni Samay Kohli and Akash Gupta. The company's flagship product, the Butler, is an autonomous mobile robot (AMR) that picks up entire shelf pods (up to 1,000 kg) and carries them to human pickers in warehouses. Butlers navigate via QR codes on the floor. Flipkart's Pune fulfillment centre uses over 600 Butlers. GreyOrange achieved unicorn status with a valuation over $1 billion in 2021.
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Family tree
The predecessors and successors of GreyOrange Butler.
- Butler v1(2014)
- Butler XL(2018)
- Butler PickPal(2022)
- Butler 2026(2026)
GreyOrange Butler in 2 minutes
Learn the science behind GreyOrange Butler
Three Atlas entries that explain how GreyOrange Butler actually works.
Mind-blowing facts
GreyOrange's founders met at BITS Pilani as students before founding the company.
Flipkart's Pune warehouse uses 600+ Butlers.
GreyOrange reached a $1B+ unicorn valuation in 2021.