Nvidia, the chip-maker that has turned into an artificial intelligence powerhouse, has announced a new platform called Project GR00T which stands for Generalist Robot 00 Technology. The company describes it as 'a general-purpose foundation model for humanoid robots'. In an interview with CNBC, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang revealed that humanoid robots have the power to transform manufacturing. The newly announced tech by Nvidia will assist robot makers, in developing and producing robots, including humanoid robotics.
NVIDIA has built this AI platform for leading humanoid robot companies such as 1X Technologies, Agility Robotics, Apptronik, Boston Dynamics, Figure AI, Fourier Intelligence, Sanctuary AI, Unitree Robotics and XPENG Robotics, among others. Notably, Tesla is not listed by the company.
Robots powered by Project GR00T will understand natural language and emulate movements by observing human actions — quickly learning coordination, dexterity and other skills in order to navigate, adapt and interact with the real world.
Huang stated, “Building foundation models for general humanoid robots is one of the most exciting problems to solve in AI today. The enabling technologies are coming together for leading roboticists around the world to take giant leaps towards artificial general robotics.”
“We are at an inflection point in history, with human-centric robots like Digit poised to change labor forever. Modern AI will accelerate development, paving the way for robots like Digit to help people in all aspects of daily life,” stated Jonathan Hurst, cofounder and chief robot officer at Agility Robotics.
German carmaker Mercedes-Benz has also partnered with a company called Apptronik to utilise their existing humanoid robot, Apollo, in their manufacturing facilities. The company will leverage Apollo for tedious or physically demanding tasks like delivering parts and inspecting components.
The Nvidia CEO or Mercedes-Benz are not the only one that believe that humanoid robots have the potential to transform manufacturing, Tesla CEO Elon Musk also seems to think the same. Tesla is currently testing its Tesla Bot or Optimus, to make it "capable of performing tasks that are unsafe, repetitive, or boring." Musk has previously posted videos showing that the Tesla Bot can walk forward, bend, and move its arms and legs. It can even pick up and sort objects.
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