Amazon hires AI robotics company Covariant's founders and 25% of its staff and enters into a non-exclusive license agreement for its robotics platform model

On August 30, 2024, local time, Amazon announced a new commercial agreement with AI robotics company

https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/company-news/amazon-covariant-ai-robots

Amazon hires Covariant founders, inks AI licensing deal
https://www.geekwire.com/2024/amazon-hires-covariant-founders-inks-licensing-deal-with-robotics-ai-startup-in-latest-reverse-acquihire-deal/

Amazon hires the founders of AI robotics startup Covariant | TechCrunch
https://techcrunch.com/2024/08/31/amazon-hires-the-founders-of-robotics-ai-startup-covariant/

Amazon acqui-hires Covariant for foundational robotics models and key AI talent
https://the-decoder.com/amazon-acqui-hires-covariant-for-foundational-robotics-models-and-key-ai-talent/

Amazon, which has developed and deployed the world's largest fleet of industrial robots, has pioneered the use of machine learning models over the past few decades to drive innovation in supply chain, logistics, and warehouse automation. Amazon's AI technologies and AWS infrastructure operate hundreds of thousands of mobile robots, robotic arms, and other automated systems that support Amazon employees as they deliver billions of customer orders each year.

Amazon's industrial robots, such as Proteus and Sequoia , all use AI to understand the environment they operate in and collaborate with operations teams to complete tasks. Sparrow, paired with Digit, a robot capable of grasping, handling, and moving, has been able to speed up inventory identification by up to 75% and order fulfillment by up to 25%.

Amazon introduces new robots 'Sequoia' and 'Digit' to its warehouses, successfully speeding up inventory identification by up to 75% and order processing by up to 25% - GIGAZINE

Amazon has reportedly succeeded in replacing 100,000 workers with robots by deploying a fleet of industrial robots.

Amazon, the world's second-largest employer, is replacing 100,000 people with 750,000 robots, a 'microcosm of how AI will change the workplace' - GIGAZINE

Amazon's robots are involved in various processes related to product delivery, such as moving inventory, sorting products, and identifying customer orders. These robots take on heavy and repetitive labor, making work safer and more efficient for employees. Leveraging insights about robots accumulated over the years, Amazon is building AI models and conducting fundamental research to further improve the safety and adaptability of its systems.

To ensure that this fundamental research can benefit more than just Amazon, Amazon announced a new commercial agreement with AI robotics company Covariant. Covariant builds advanced AI models that enable robots to see, reason, and act in their surroundings, supporting a wide range of warehouse automation tasks. Amazon cited Covariant's 'iterative, customer-centric approach to developing technology that solves the toughest challenges in warehouse automation and its deep understanding of end-to-end processes.'

Under the new commercial agreement, Amazon will acquire a non-exclusive license to Covariant's robotics foundation models, which will drive new ways to democratize how robotic systems learn, providing dynamic opportunities to use automation to make operations safer and improve customer delivery. As part of this effort, Amazon will expand its AI and robotics teams, leveraging world-class talent to drive modern automation processes.

Additionally, Covariant announced that a group of research scientists and engineers, representing approximately one-quarter of its workforce, and three of its co-founders, Pieter Abbeel, Peter Chen, and Rocky Duan, will join Amazon's Fulfillment Technology and Robotics team. This group of engineers will drive Covariant's technology development and implementation within Amazon's operations and continue to develop innovative AI solutions.