NVIDIA CEO declares ‘the age of generalist robotics is here’

Jensen Huang, the founder and CEO of NVIDIA, said that generalist robotics will be the next global technological trend. 

His declaration comes with the launch of NVIDIA Isaac GR00T N1, the world’s first open, fully customizable foundation model for generalized humanoid reasoning. 

READ: Nvidia and Meta CEOs say all businesses will have AI

It features a dual-system architecture, which emulates the principles of human cognition. 

System 1 is a fast-thinking action model that mimics human reflexes and intuition. On the other hand, System 2 is a slow-thinking model for methodical decision-making.

System 2 reasons about its environment and the instructions it has received to plan actions using a vision language model.

Then, System 1 converts these plans into precise, continuous robotic movements. As a result, GR00T N1 represents a significant milestone in generalist robotics. 

It enables robots to perform simple tasks like grasping objects with one or both arms and moving them from one arm to another.

Moreover, it lets humanoid machines perform multistep tasks that require long context and combinations of general skills. 

Researchers and developers can train GR00T N1 real or synthetic data for their humanoid robots or tasks.

As a result, humanoid robots could work in various industries like material handling, packaging, and inspection. 

Nowadays, more tech firms worldwide are accelerating the generalist robotics era. For example, Tesla continues to develop its Optimus bot for household tasks.

In 2023, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) announced the country will mass-produce robots by 2025.

Inquirer discussed China’s ambitious technological initiative here.

Following its vision, Chinese tech companies are showcasing more powerful robots, such as Dobot’s Atom. 

This robotic marvel can complete tasks that seem more akin to science fiction, such as preparing breakfast.