Artificial intelligence (AI) robotics company Covariant launched from stealth on Wednesday, Jan. 29, with the announcement that its AI has been deployed and is fully operational at customer facilities in several industries.

Covariant has spent the last two and a half years since being founded researching, developing, testing and deploying its AI, which has led to the development of the Covariant Brain. Covariant describes the Covariant Brain as “universal AI for robots that can be applied to any use case or customer environment.” Covariant robots are capable of quickly learning how to manipulate objects without being told what to do thanks to their ability to learn various general abilities.

Over the past year, Covariant transitioned from development and pilot phase into full production mode. Present day, Covariant robotic stations are running consistently at facilities in North America and Europe.

“Customer expectations for fast, affordable package delivery have never been higher,” says Michael Pultke, Head of Logistics at Obeta, a German electrical supply wholesaler located outside Berlin that operates a warehouse where the robotic station is currently running.

“To stay competitive, we need to modernize our operations and keep order processing and delivery running quickly and smoothly. The Covariant-powered robot is an integral part of our live operations, exceeding our performance requirements and adapting quickly to change. AI Robotics is a foundational part of our future strategy.”

Obeta's station was brought into production by Covariant and KNAPP, which is a warehouse logistics technology company headquartered in Graz, Austria. KNAPP works with customers across the globe to provide automation technology and software platforms for logistics and production facilities in various industries including food retail, healthcare and production.

“AI Robotics is quickly becoming relevant to every warehouse operation, and is critical to KNAPP's strategy of offering market leading solutions,” says Peter Puchwein, VP of Innovation at KNAPP.

“We looked at every solution out there. Covariant is the only one that's ready for real production.”

To date, Covariant has raised $27 million in funding, including $20 million in Series A funding raised in the first half of 2019, which had not been announced until the company came out of stealth.