Nvidia is releasing a computer model designed to pave the way for AI-powered humanoid robots. At the company’s GTC event in San Jose, Nvidia announced “Project GR00T,” a software platform that can enable a robot to understand human language and replicate human actions. The computer model promises to help today’s robot makers build machines capable of interacting with humans and navigating real-world environments. “The ChatGPT moment for robots might be around the corner,” added Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang.
(Nvidia)
GR00T stands for Generalist Robot 00 Technology, and it’s designed to act as a “foundational model” that companies can build on, bypassing the need to merely rely on pre-programmed commands for their bots. GR00T works by being able to understand both human language and videos as input. This means you can essentially feed the computer model video clips depicting a human movement. The model will then train itself to replicate the action in a virtual simulation, gaining the dexterity and coordination to pull off and imitate the movement in the real-world.
(Nvidia)
The software model arrives as OpenAI —a major buyer of Nvidia GPUs— has also been using its own AI models to power a humanoid robot from a startup called Figure. In a demo last week, Figure showed how its robot could have full conversations with a human, thanks to the OpenAI integration.
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In Nvidia’s case, the company has also developed “Jetson Thor,” a system-on-a-chip that can run GR00T and other computer models meant for humanoid robots. Jetson Thor will feature a GPU based on Nvidia’s Blackwell architecture, which represents a major upgrade from the company’s existing Hopper H100 GPUs. Nvidia adds that it’s building AI platforms for leading robotics companies including Boston Dynamics, Figure and Agility Robotics.
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