Nvidia’s next move: Powering humanoid robotics
The Financial Times reports that Nvidia will launch a new generation of compact computers for humanoid robots, called Jetson Thor, in the first half of 2019. The Financial Times reports that it will launch a new generation, Jetson Thor compact computers, for humanoid robotics in the first half year of 2019. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang demonstrated a variety of robots that were powered by Nvidia chips in March at the company’s conference. Nvidia doesn’t plan to compete directly with manufacturers like Tesla, but rather provide the “hundreds of thousands” of robot makers in the world with a kind of underlying OEM, as its vice president of robotics, Deepu Talla, told reporters last month in Tokyo.
As for why now, Talla tells the FT that the shift owes to two technological breakthroughs: the explosion of generative AI models, and the ability to train robots on them using simulated environments.
What Nvidia isn’t saying but is also plainly the case: its push into AI-powered robots comes as major customers like Amazon and Google work to lessen their dependence on the outfit’s AI chips by developing their own.
Above: Tesla’s humanoid robot, Optimus; Nvidia has said it supplies Tesla with tech to build the machines.
