What is Project GR00T launched by Nvidia involving highly-intelligent robots?

NVIDIA has launched Project GR00T, a groundbreaking foundation model designed specifically for humanoid robots. This initiative marks a significant advancement in the field of robotics and embodied artificial intelligence (AI). Alongside this, NVIDIA has unveiled the Jetson Thor computing platform, optimized for humanoid robotics, and introduced major upgrades to the NVIDIA Isaac™ robotics platform.

Transformative Humanoid Robotics with Project GR00T

Project GR00T, which stands for Generalist Robot 00 Technology, aims to revolutionize how robots interact with the world. These advanced robots will possess the ability to understand natural language and mimic human movements, rapidly acquiring skills such as coordination and dexterity. NVIDIA’s founder and CEO, Jensen Huang, emphasized the excitement surrounding the development of these foundation models: “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.”

Jetson Thor: Powering next-generation robotics

The Jetson Thor platform, which leverages NVIDIA’s Thor system-on-a-chip (SoC), is a state-of-the-art computing solution for humanoid robots. Designed with a modular architecture for optimal performance, power efficiency, and compactness, Jetson Thor features a next-generation GPU based on NVIDIA's Blackwell architecture. This includes a transformer engine capable of delivering 800 teraflops of 8-bit floating-point AI performance, ideal for running advanced generative AI models like GR00T. The SoC integrates a functional safety processor, a high-performance CPU cluster, and 100Gb of Ethernet bandwidth, simplifying design and integration efforts.

Collaborative efforts and industry partnerships

NVIDIA is collaborating with leading humanoid robot companies including 1X Technologies, Agility Robotics, and Boston Dynamics, among others. Jonathan Hurst, cofounder and chief robot officer at Agility Robotics, highlighted the impact of this collaboration: “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.”

Geordie Rose, cofounder and CEO of Sanctuary AI, added, “Embodied AI will not only help address some of humanity’s biggest challenges but also create innovations which are currently beyond our reach or imagination. Technology this important shouldn’t be built in silos, which is why we prioritize long-term partners like NVIDIA.”

Enhancements to the NVIDIA Isaac platform

The NVIDIA Isaac platform has also received significant upgrades. The new Isaac Lab, designed for reinforcement learning, and OSMO, a compute orchestration service, are key components. These tools facilitate the creation of foundation models and support extensive simulations necessary for robot learning. Isaac Manipulator and Isaac Perceptor are new additions, offering advanced capabilities for robotic arms and multi-camera, 3D surround-vision, respectively.

Isaac Manipulator provides state-of-the-art dexterity and AI capabilities for robotic arms, while Isaac Perceptor enhances autonomous mobile robots used in manufacturing and fulfillment operations. Early adopters like ArcBest and BYD are already integrating these technologies to improve efficiency and safety in their operations.