NVIDIA’s Project GR00T and Isaac Robotics Platform News

Introduction

In a groundbreaking announcement at GTC, NVIDIA unveiled Project GR00T, a revolutionary general-purpose foundation model designed to propel the field of robotics and embodied AI to new heights. This cutting-edge initiative aims to equip humanoid robots with the ability to understand natural language, emulate human movements, and rapidly acquire skills to navigate, adapt, and interact with the real world seamlessly.

Main Announcement

Project GR00T, an acronym for Generalist Robot 00 Technology, represents a significant leap forward in the realm of artificial general robotics. As NVIDIA’s founder and CEO Jensen Huang aptly stated, “Building foundation models for general humanoid robots is one of the most exciting problems to solve in AI today.” The enabling technologies are converging, allowing leading roboticists worldwide to take giant strides toward realizing the dream of artificial general robotics.

Key Features

Complementing the groundbreaking Project GR00T, NVIDIA introduced Jetson Thor, a cutting-edge computing platform designed specifically for humanoid robots. This modular architecture, optimized for performance, power, and size, features a next-generation GPU based on the NVIDIA Blackwell architecture, delivering an impressive 800 teraflops of 8-bit floating point AI performance. This powerful computing capability enables Jetson Thor to run multimodal generative AI models like GR00T with ease.

Upgrades to the NVIDIA Isaac™ Robotics Platform

In addition to Project GR00T and Jetson Thor, NVIDIA announced significant upgrades to its Isaac Robotics Platform. These enhancements include the introduction of generative AI foundation models, a new robot training simulator, and CUDA-accelerated perception and manipulation libraries.

• Isaac Lab: A GPU-accelerated, lightweight, and performance-optimized application built on Isaac Sim, specifically designed for running thousands of parallel simulations for robot learning.
• OSMO: A compute orchestration service that coordinates data generation, model training, and software/hardware-in-the-loop workflows across distributed environments.
• Isaac Manipulator: A collection of state-of-the-art dexterity and modular AI capabilities for robotic arms, featuring foundation models and GPU-accelerated libraries for up to an 80x speedup in path planning and zero-shot perception.
• Isaac Perceptor: Multi-camera, 3D surround-vision capabilities designed to improve efficiency, worker safety, and reduce error rates and costs in autonomous mobile robots used in manufacturing and fulfillment operations.

Conclusion

With Project GR00T, Jetson Thor, and the enhanced Isaac Robotics Platform, NVIDIA is paving the way for a future where humanoid robots can seamlessly integrate into our daily lives, assisting us in various tasks and addressing some of humanity’s most pressing challenges. As NVIDIA partners with leading robotics companies, we can expect to witness groundbreaking advancements in the field of embodied AI and artificial general robotics.

For more information on Project GR00T and the Isaac Robotics Platform, visit NVIDIA’s website.