Ears, paws, cost: Sberbank's robops can displace Yandex in the delivery market
Sber has started testing courier robots based on four-legged robops, Izvestia has learned. The pilot launch of the project took place in Moscow in September, but real orders cannot be placed through them yet. The emergence of a new player may change the balance of power in the segment where Yandex currently holds a leading position. He already uses more than 1,000 rovers and intends to increase their number to 20,000 by the end of 2027. Companies are developing their own solutions amid rising costs and a shortage of couriers. The annual maintenance of the company's rover is 49-66% cheaper than a courier, according to Sovcombank calculations. How ecosystems are trying to reduce spending on the "last mile" — delivery from darkstore to the end customer — in the Izvestia article.
Why did Sber show interest in robotic delivery
Sber is preparing to launch the delivery of goods using robot couriers in the form of robops, two sources familiar with the discussion of the project told Izvestia. According to them, the pilot launch took place in Moscow in mid-September. At the same time, according to one of the interlocutors, there are no real orders yet and there is no way to arrange delivery by robot.
Sber is developing the field of Physical AI— an artificial intelligence capable of interacting with the physical world, its representative told Izvestia. As part of the project, the bank develops and tests various types of robots, including for logistics tasks. For now, Sber is "studying application scenarios, evaluating effectiveness and value for customers," said a representative of Sber. He did not disclose any other details of the pilot.
On September 28, the government approved a three-year experimental legal regime (EPR) for delivery robots, according to the data on the portal. pravo.gov . Its three participants, along with Robodostavka (owned by Yandex) and Dronshab, included Sberbank Logistics. The regime applies to 34 regions, including Moscow. It allows rovers to move along sidewalks, residential and pedestrian areas and sets requirements for their dimensions, speed, surveillance systems and insurance. The goal is to increase the fleet of its participants to at least 12 thousand devices and fulfill 10.8 million orders in the second half of the third year, the resolution says.
Sberbank has its own e-grocery (online retail of consumer goods) infrastructure, which includes Cooper and Scooter. In July, Samokat began testing delivery using Yandex rovers in its own livery in some areas of Moscow. The service hoped to increase the efficiency of logistics and reduced the minimum order amount for such deliveries by 20%. Izvestia sent inquiries to the company.
Why are companies switching to delivery robots
Robotic delivery is a promising area, says Mikhail Burmistrov, CEO of INFOLine. The team involved in the development of autonomous solutions has recently strengthened at Sberbank, he said.
The bank's desire to test bionic robots looks logical — this will allow it to enter a more complex segment of robotic delivery, where it is necessary to overcome obstacles such as puddles, snowdrifts, stairs, said Ekaterina Kosareva, Managing Partner of VMT Consult. The emergence of new types of robots may increase technology competition in the delivery market, the expert added.
At the same time, while the robotic segment remains a niche, its main player is Yandex, said Vyacheslav Berdnikov, head of the Public Equity Analysis Department at Sovcombank. The company launched the rovers for commercial use in December 2020. Currently, such delivery is available in 11 cities. According to the results of the second quarter of 2026, the rovers completed more than 260 thousand orders, and the company's fleet exceeded 1 thousand robots, said a representative of Yandex.
The interest of ecosystems in such delivery is driven by their economics, experts say. According to Sovcombank's calculations, the annual maintenance of the Yandex rover costs the company 295 thousand rubles, while the annual salary of a courier in Moscow and St. Petersburg averages about 878 thousand, and in small towns - about 574 thousand. It turns out that a robot is 49-66% cheaper than a human, Vyacheslav Berdnikov said. Although the benefit is noticeable with a high density of orders and short distances (about 2 km), the analyst stipulates. In small towns, according to him, the robot is idle, so the savings disappear.
Ekaterina Kosareva is convinced that the trend towards robotization of delivery is the business' response to the rising labor market. According to HeadHunter calculations, in the second quarter of 2026, the median proposed salary for a courier in Russia reached 125.5 thousand rubles per month, which is 23% higher than in the same period a year earlier. The number of courier vacancies increased 2.2 times over the same period.
The situation is complicated by the tightening of migration policy, Ekaterina Kosareva said. According to the Russian Security Council, in the first six months of 2026, the influx of migrants in annual terms fell by 8%, to 4.8 million people. It is not known how many of them can work in the delivery. At the same time, in Moscow, according to the Metropolitan Department of Transport, in March, about 52% of delivery workers were foreign citizens with patents.
As a result, courier costs continue to grow, while robotic solutions are becoming more cost-effective due to localization and scaling, Mikhail Burmistrov pointed out. According to Data Insight, the online food sales market reached 577.3 million orders and 894.2 billion rubles in the first six months of 2026, which is 20% and 25% higher, respectively, than in the same period last year.
Against this background, Yandex intends to release a total of 20,000 delivery robots by the end of 2027, its representative said. According to the company's plan, rovers should work where there are not enough couriers or the number of orders exceeds the available courier capacity. This, in turn, will help increase the capacity of the "last mile" — the final stage of delivery from the last point of the logistics chain (sorting center, regional warehouse, darkstore) to the consumer, Ekaterina Kosareva noted.
At the same time, the cost of producing robots is reduced, says Vyacheslav Berdnikov. The same Yandex plans to reduce the price of the rover by 20% to $8 thousand by 2027. Since 2019, when the company just started developing this segment, the courier robot has fallen in price five times. Even now, robo-delivery is cheaper than courier delivery, the Yandex representative added.
In two or three years, the robot may be noticeable, but still a complementary channel, and not a substitute for the courier, Vyacheslav Berdnikov believes. This gadget is cheaper to maintain, but it is still inferior to humans in performance and scenarios, Ekaterina Kosareva concluded.
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