Thematic Spotlight: Amazon Looks to Acquire More Robots

E-commerce giant, Amazon inc., appears to be once again on the lookout for opportunities to expand its world-leading robotics division. Last week, the tech giant reportedly submitted a takeover inquiry to Covariant, a maker of artificial intelligence software targeted at industrial robots.¹ The acquisition, if accepted, could become one of Amazon’s biggest robotics acquisitions to date with Covariant valued at US$625 million in 2023 according to PitchBook.²

Amazon is one of the most prolific employers of warehouse robots. The firm made its first major robotics acquisition in 2012 when it took over Kiva Systems for US$775 million.³ That firm is responsible for the swath of orange ‘squat machines’ now swarming around Amazon’s fulfilment centres, carrying and repositioning anything from crates of soft drinks to whole shelves of products. Amazon’s new acquisition target, however, won’t be adding any physical robots to the existing fleet. Instead, Covariant offers to make Amazon’s robots smarter. The firm’s main offering, a software called Covariant Brain, is a universal robotics AI system which empowers robots to communicate across different platforms – an attractive proposition for Amazon, who currently employs multiple forms of automation at their warehouses.⁴ Covariant’s current customers include online retailer Otto Group, logistics firm Radial, and pharmaceutical distributor McKesson Corp.⁵

Beyond Covariant, Amazon has explored multiple other options to improve their warehouse automation. The Amazon Industrial Fund, a US$1 billion corporate venture capital fund for emerging tech, recently committed US$3.2 million to Instock, another warehouse robot firm.⁶ Amazon also invested in Agility Robots Inc., the maker of humanoid robot “Digit”, in 2022.⁷

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