Petar Vojinovic
Published on: September 7, 2025
In this interview, we sit down with Aldus von der Burg, Founder & CEO of Meili Robots, to explore the company’s journey from its early days as a last-mile delivery service to becoming a leading provider of universal fleet management software. Speaking with SafetyDetectives, Aldus shares how a pivotal challenge in interoperability sparked a major pivot, why the company draws inspiration from Norse mythology, and how Meili Robots is shaping the future of mobile robot operations worldwide.
How did Meili Robots begin in April 2019 and evolve into the universal fleet management software company it is today?
Meili Robots started as a last mile delivery service using robots, inspired by the founder’s previous drone delivery startup the year before. Just like with drones, the idea faced challenges that were too big for the time: capital needs, permits, and legislation.
At the end of 2019, during a project in the Danish healthcare industry, we encountered the issue of interoperability. The goal was to connect two robots from different brands into one solution. We soon realized it was impossible to do this via OEM solutions and that it required third party software.
This discovery gave us the idea to pivot. We scrapped the hardware and built on the fleet manager we had already developed for delivery. In January 2020, we officially shifted direction, and it was the best decision we could have made.
What inspired you to name the company after a lesser known Norse god rather than a more obvious mythological figure?
The founder’s earlier drone company was called Aldus Drone, but he wanted a fresh identity for the new venture. While searching for gods of logistics, common names like Mercury and Apollo came up, but so did Meili in a lesser known reference.
As a Swede founding a Danish company, it felt natural to choose a name from Norse mythology. It also proved fitting as we moved toward being a software only solution capable of cloud based deployments that can manage robots worldwide.
How does Meili FMS enable interoperability across diverse mobile robot fleets, and why is that important for operations?
Interoperability is at the core of Meili Robots, allowing robots from different brands to communicate and work together as one fleet. This is critical as companies now use multiple robot suppliers for tasks like pallet moving, cleaning, inventory scanning, and more.
Without a unifying platform, fleets risk conflicts and delays, especially in brownfield sites where human driven vehicles are still in use. Meili FMS integrates these vehicles too, using trackers or RTLS systems, so they all become part of a single traffic control system.
We achieve compatibility by using existing technologies like ROS, supporting standards such as VDA5050, and offering an SDK for proprietary OEM systems. This makes Meili FMS the most effective solution for operating mixed fleets across the market.
Can you describe a recent strategic partnership, such as with WAKU Robotics, and what it brought to your product offering?
WAKU Robotics provides powerful monitoring tools and a service assistant for robot operators. Partnering with them allows us to combine their strengths with ours, giving users a more complete and efficient platform.
This philosophy extends to our other partnerships. We focus on fleet management while our partners bring expertise in their own areas, creating more value than we could alone. Instead of spreading ourselves thin, we let the market select the features that matter most.
How does Meili Robots embed its core values like transparency, diversity, and resilience into daily company culture?
As a universal system often called the “Android of Robotics,” it is important that we are open and honest about our capabilities. This transparency has built strong trust with partners and clients.
Our team is a mix of talents and personalities, and respect is a requirement in everything we do. Even as a small team, our ambition is large, and we rely on diversity and resilience to drive us forward.
Looking ahead, what new features or industry segments is Meili Robots aiming to expand into next?
Our vision is to continue strengthening Meili FMS with faster, more capable features driven by customer feedback. New developments focus on refining current tools rather than chasing trends. For example, AI and machine learning are applied to specific areas like the map editor or integration tools where they add real value.
The long term goal is to be the go to fleet manager for mobile robots, whether for OEMs, system integrators, end users, or enterprise suites. With our commercial model, we are confident we can scale and support this vision.
