Covariant, which was previously known as Embodied Intelligence, is an American company that works with artificial intelligence and robotics technology. It is based in Emeryville, California.
History
The company was founded in 2017 under the name Embodied Intelligence by Pieter Abbeel, Peter Chen, Rocky Duan, and Tianhao Zhang. Chen is the CEO, Abbeel is the president and chief scientist, and Duan is the chief technology officer. Since 2008, Abbeel has been the director of the Robot Learning Lab at the University of California, Berkeley, where he is also a professor. Chen, Duan, and Zhang were former students of Abbeel at the university. Abbeel, Chen, and Duan worked together as researchers with OpenAI, and Zhang was a former researcher with Microsoft.
The company was created to develop advanced robotic automation for factories and warehouses. It builds software to help existing robot hardware perform a wider range of tasks using a combined method of imitation learning and reinforcement learning.
Based on their research at Berkeley, the founders spent over two years designing the Covariant Brain, an AI-driven software that controls a robotic arm to perform tasks in a warehouse. In 2018, the company collected data from 30 types of robot arms in warehouses worldwide, all using the Covariant Brain. The company has since built a database containing billions of units of real-world robotics information.
In February 2020, it was announced that ABB, an industrial robotics maker, would partner with Covariant to create warehouse robots. Soon after, automation company Knapp said it would use Covariant’s AI-for-robotics system, the Covariant Brain, at a warehouse operated for Obeta, a German electrical supplies wholesaler. In 2023, logistics provider Radial implemented the Covariant Brain for robotic order sorting, and German e-commerce retailer Otto Group announced the use of Covariant’s technology for item induction.
On March 11, 2024, Covariant launched RFM-1 (Robotics Foundation Model 1), a model that gives robots the ability to reason and understand their environment like humans. The model is trained using text, images, videos, robot actions, and sensor data collected by warehouse robots using the Covariant Brain.
This technology allows robots to learn how to manipulate objects using deep learning and reinforcement learning. Covariant’s services include goods-to-person picking, kitting, depalletization, item induction, and order sorting powered by the Covariant Brain. Their technology enables robot arms to pick and sort items from bins faster than humans.
At its founding, the company received $7 million in funding from Amplify Partners and other investors. On May 6, 2020, Covariant announced it raised $40 million in a Series B funding round led by Index Ventures, following a $20 million Series A round. On July 27, 2021, Covariant raised $80 million in Series C funding, and on April 4, 2023, the company raised an additional $75 million, totaling $222 million in funding.
On August 30, 2024, Amazon announced a deal with Covariant for a "non-exclusive" license to its technology. The agreement included hiring 25% of Covariant’s workforce at Amazon and allowing Abbeel, Chen, and Duan to join Amazon.
A 2025 whistleblower complaint to the Federal Trade Commission, Securities and Exchange Commission, and Department of Justice revealed that the deal involved a $380 million payment to Covariant, with an additional $20 million payment due one year after the deal closed. This amount was much lower than Covariant’s 2023 valuation of $625 million. Amazon structured the deal as a "reverse acquihire" to avoid antitrust scrutiny by not fully acquiring Covariant but instead taking its core technology and hiring key employees. An Amazon representative did not deny this arrangement. Covariant’s founders received large payments, while investors and employees saw their equity shares reduced significantly. Amazon also reportedly added restrictions on future sales and licensing agreements by Covariant, with penalties for violations. The complaint claimed that Covariant is a "zombie company" that exists only on paper to collect the final 2025 licensing payment.
Since the Amazon deal was announced in August 2024, Covariant has not updated its website, LinkedIn, X, or YouTube accounts.