Covariant

AI robotics company founded by Pieter Abbeel, developing general-purpose robot AI

Overview

Covariant is an AI robotics company founded in October 2017 (originally as Embodied Intelligence), developing general-purpose AI for robots. The company launched from stealth on January 29, 2020. It focuses on logistics and warehouse automation, with deployments at major global retailers and logistics companies across 15+ countries.

ItemDetails
HeadquartersEmeryville, California
FoundedOctober 2017
Original NameEmbodied Intelligence
Stealth LaunchJanuary 29, 2020
Total Funding$222M+
Key CustomersGXO Logistics, Otto Group, McKesson, Crate & Barrel

Founding Team

Co-Founders

NameRoleBackground
Pieter AbbeelChairman & Chief ScientistUC Berkeley Professor
Peter ChenFormer CEOUC Berkeley PhD
Rocky DuanFormer CTOOpenAI, UC Berkeley
Tianhao ZhangCo-founderUC Berkeley

Note: In August 2024, Amazon hired Abbeel, Chen, Duan, and about 25% of the company’s staff. Ted Stinson (former COO) now serves as CEO, with Tianhao Zhang as co-leader.

Core Technology

Covariant Brain

General-purpose AI for robot vision, reasoning, and action:

[Visual Input] → Covariant Brain → [Robot Action]
                    ↓
         - Object Recognition
         - Grasp Planning
         - Error Recovery

RFM-1 (Robotics Foundation Model 1)

Announced March 2024, an 8 billion parameter multimodal model:

FeatureDescription
Parameters8B
Training DataText, images, video, robot actions, sensor data
CapabilitiesPhysical world understanding, natural language programming, self-reflection

Products & Deployments

Target Applications

  • Logistics: Warehouse picking and sorting
  • Retail: Order fulfillment
  • Manufacturing: Material handling

Major Customers

  • GXO Logistics
  • Otto Group (Bonprix)
  • McKesson
  • Crate & Barrel
  • Capacity
  • Radial

50+ customers and partners in 15 countries, with hundreds of AI-powered robots deployed

Funding History

PeriodRoundAmountLead Investors
Nov 2017Seed$7MAmplify Partners, Lux Capital
Jun 2018Series A$20MSamsung NEXT
May 2020Series B$40MIndex Ventures
Jul 2021Series C-1$80MIndex Ventures
Apr 2023Series C-2$75MRadical Ventures, Index Ventures

Total Funding: $222M+

Amazon Deal (August 2024)

  • Technology licensing agreement: $380M + $20M additional (non-exclusive license)
  • Key founders (Abbeel, Chen, Duan) and about 25% of staff joined Amazon
  • Covariant continues operating independently under Ted Stinson (CEO) and Tianhao Zhang

Research Contributions

Key Ideas

  1. General-Purpose Robot AI: Single model for diverse tasks
  2. Real-World Learning: Learning from actual deployment data
  3. Scalable Architecture: Foundation model approach to robotics

Influence on Field

  • Early commercial success of robot learning
  • Demonstration of foundation model viability for robotics
  • Bridge between academic research and industry deployment

References

See Also