Nvidia Robot Platform Expands
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Nvidia Betts On Robotics To Lead Future Growth
Nvidia is putting robotics as a key sector that will drive future growth. Nvidia, the world’s most valuable semiconductor company, is looking to make inroads into new industries amid intensifying competition in key areas of its AI chip manufacturing business.
U.S. tech company Nvidia is well known for the technology that built the foundation for the AI boom, and will launch its latest suite of small computers for humanoid robots, Jetson Thor, in the first half of 2025.
Nvidia sees an imminent robotics revolution and is looking to establish itself as a leading platform to do so. The company offers “full-stack” solutions ranging from AI-powered robot training software to chips on robots.
DiPutala, vice president of robotics at Nvidia, told the Financial Times that he believes the market has reached a “turning point,” saying the “moment of physical AI and robotics is coming soon.”
Reasons for the Transition to Robotics
Nvidia’s foray into robotics is to counter growing competition from cloud computing giants like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google, as well as rival chipmakers like AMD. These companies are trying to reduce their dependence on Nvidia.
A surge in demand for AI chips has pushed Nvidia’s enterprise value past $3 trillion, and the company is positioned as an investor in the “physical AI” space to support the growth of the next generation of robotics companies. In February this year, Nvidia joined other companies, including Microsoft, in a humanoid robot company called Figure AI at 26.
Technological breakthroughs and market prospects
The change in the robotics market is driven by two technological innovations. The first is the explosive growth of Generative AI models, and the second is technology that trains these models in a simulation environment so they can work in a real environment. Talla explained that these advancements are helping to solve the “Sim-to-Real gap,” enabling experiments that were not possible in the past.
Nvidia provides tools in three stages of robot development:
- AI Model Training Software: Supplied by the ‘DGX’ system.
- Virtual Environment Simulation: Utilize the ‘Omniverse’ platform.
- Robot’s Hardware: The ‘Jetson’ module serves as the robot’s brain.
Growth Potential of Robotics Market
The global robotics market is currently valued at around $78 billion and is expected to reach $165 billion by the end of 2029. Major customers such as Amazon, Toyota, and Boston Dynamics are taking advantage of Nvidia’s technology, which has already deployed Nvidia’s robotic simulation technology at three warehouses in the U.S.
the remaining tasks
However, the robotics market still needs to address critical issues such as model training, safety, and reliability verification. David Rosen, who leads the Robust Autonomy Lab at Northeastern University, pointed out that “at the moment, we lack effective tools to validate the safety and reliability of machine learning systems, especially robotics systems,” emphasizing that this is still a major scientific problem to be solved.
ft.com