KNAPP and Covariant Introduce the Pick-it-Easy Robot, Powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI) to North American Market

New Robotic Solution to Automate Order Picking is Transformational and Flexible; Applicable Across a Variety of Sectors Including Healthcare, Retail and Grocery

KENNESAW, Ga.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today at MODEX 2020, KNAPP, a leading supplier of intralogistics systems, and Covariant, a leading AI Robotics company, announced a partnership to deploy and bring to market advanced AI Robotics solutions. KNAPP and Covariant have already developed several solutions together. The Pick-It-Easy Robot powered by Covariant AI, is designed for high performance single-piece picking applications and is currently operating in production at several customer sites in North America and Europe, including at Obeta, a German electrical supply wholesaler outside Berlin.

“Artificial intelligence will be a defining feature of the warehouse of the future, impacting all aspects of operations and fundamentally changing how business is done,” said Jusuf Buzimkic, SVP Engineering at KNAPP. “We looked at every solution on the market, and Covariant was the clear winner. Our partnership with Covariant will enable us to deliver cutting-edge artificial intelligence technology to our customers, providing a major leg up in an increasingly competitive world.”

“Deploying AI Robotics solutions in customer environments is extremely challenging,” said Pieter Abbeel, President, Chief Scientist and co-founder of Covariant. “To be successful, you need to combine AI software with robotics hardware components, then make sure they integrate into a customer’s warehouse, which has dozens of other systems running. It’s a complex process that requires that every piece of technology is seamlessly integrated. KNAPP’s reputation, scale, and 50+ years of experience delivering innovative logistics technology makes them an ideal partner to deploy our AI Robotics technology to customer environments.”

KNAPP implemented its first Pick-It-Easy Robot seven years ago in Europe and has been actively developing and refining robotic and vision system technology since that time. The new Pick-It-Easy Robot powered by Covariant is now deployed, field proven and ready to use. According to Jusuf Buzimkic, “It can handle unlimited SKU types and works on challenging objects including polybags, banded-apparel, transparent objects and blister packs. It also learns to pick new objects it’s never seen before and improves over time”. The system can easily integrate into warehouses and facilities in the e-commerce, retail, electronics, cosmetics, food, pharmaceuticals and healthcare industries; and a formidable advantage when leveraging the sequencing and versatility of KNAPP’s OSR Shuttle^TM EVO.

About Covariant

Covariant is building the Covariant Brain: universal AI that allows robots to see, reason and act on the world around them. Founded in 2017 by the world’s top AI researchers and roboticists from UC Berkeley and OpenAI, Covariant is bringing the latest artificial intelligence research breakthroughs to the biggest industry opportunities. The company is headquartered in Berkeley, CA. For more information, visit covariant.ai.

About KNAPP

KNAPP is an internationally operating company and is one of the world market leaders in warehouse logistics and automation with over 4,000 employees worldwide. As a solutions provider, KNAPP provides one-stop, custom-designed intralogistics solutions in health care, retail, apparel, food, manufacturing and ecommerce sectors. Our clients experience results that are flexible, resource efficient, ergonomic and self-learning. The company’s North American headquarters are in Atlanta, GA. For more information, visit www.knapp.com.