Nvidia Aims to Power Versatile Robots Like Android - AI News Today Recency

# NVIDIA Aims to Power Versatile Robots Like Android: The Future of Physical AI

NVIDIA is positioning itself at the forefront of the robotics revolution with a comprehensive suite of physical AI models and tools designed to enable the next generation of versatile, intelligent robots. As the company unveils breakthrough technologies at CES 2026, industry giants like Boston Dynamics, Caterpillar, Franka Robotics, and others are already deploying NVIDIA's robotics stack to create machines capable of learning and adapting to diverse real-world tasks[1]. This marks what NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang calls "the ChatGPT moment for robotics," where artificial intelligence finally understands the physical world well enough to reason, plan, and act with human-like versatility[1].

NVIDIA's New Physical AI Foundation Models

NVIDIA has released NVIDIA Cosmos, a suite of open world foundation models that represent a major leap forward in physical AI development[2]. These models bring humanlike reasoning and world generation capabilities to accelerate the creation of robots that can perceive, reason, and act in complex environments[2].

The Cosmos family includes several specialized models: Cosmos Reason 2 is a leaderboard-topping reasoning vision language model that helps robots and AI agents see, understand, and interact with the physical world with higher accuracy[2]. Cosmos Transfer 2.5 and Cosmos Predict 2.5 are leading models that generate large-scale synthetic videos across diverse environments and conditions, enabling robots to train on vast amounts of simulated data before deployment[2].

These foundation models address one of robotics' biggest challenges: the need for large, diverse datasets and models that can handle real-world complexity. On Hugging Face, robotics is now the fastest-growing segment, with NVIDIA's open robotics models and datasets leading the platform's downloads[2].

Purpose-Built Models for Humanoid and Autonomous Systems

Beyond foundation models, NVIDIA is releasing specialized models tailored to specific robot types. Isaac GR00T N1.6 is an open reasoning vision language action (VLA) model purpose-built for humanoid robots, unlocking full-body control and leveraging NVIDIA Cosmos Reason for superior reasoning and contextual understanding[2].

For autonomous vehicles, NVIDIA has introduced Alpamayo for Reasoning-Based Autonomous Vehicles, expanding physical AI applications beyond traditional robotics into transportation and logistics[2]. These specialized models demonstrate NVIDIA's strategy of creating both generalist models that work across many applications and specialist models optimized for specific embodiments[1].

Companies like Franka Robotics, Humanoid, and NEURA Robotics are already using Isaac GR00T to simulate, train, and validate new robot behaviors before scaling to production[2]. This approach significantly accelerates development cycles and reduces the risk of deploying untested behaviors in real-world environments.

Complete Robotics Stack and Edge Computing Infrastructure

NVIDIA's strategy extends beyond software models to encompass a complete end-to-end robotics platform[4]. The company provides Jetson robotics processors, CUDA computing framework, Omniverse simulation environment, and open physical AI models to create a unified ecosystem[1].

The newly announced NVIDIA IGX Thor, available later this month, extends robotics capabilities to the industrial edge, offering high-performance AI computing with enterprise software support and functional safety[1]. This hardware is critical for deploying AI-powered robots in industrial settings like construction and mining, where reliability and safety are paramount.

A growing partner ecosystem is building Thor-powered systems for edge AI, robotics, and embedded applications, including companies like AAEON, Advantech, ADLINK, Aetina, AVerMedia, and others[1]. Additionally, Caterpillar is expanding its collaboration with NVIDIA to bring advanced AI and autonomy to equipment and job sites in construction and mining, with details to be shared during a CES keynote[1].

Frequently Asked Questions

What is physical AI and why is it important for robotics?

Physical AI refers to models that understand the real world, can reason about it, and plan actions accordingly[1]. This is crucial for robotics because it enables robots to move beyond pre-programmed tasks and adapt to new situations, learn from their environment, and perform complex, varied tasks much like human workers can.

What is NVIDIA Cosmos and how does it help robots?

NVIDIA Cosmos is a suite of open world foundation models that bring humanlike reasoning and world generation to physical AI development[2]. These models help robots perceive, reason, and act in complex environments with greater accuracy, and they can generate synthetic training data to accelerate robot development and validation.

What makes Isaac GR00T N1.6 different from other robot AI models?

Isaac GR00T N1.6 is specifically designed as an open reasoning vision language action (VLA) model for humanoid robots[2]. It enables full-body control and integrates NVIDIA Cosmos Reason for better contextual understanding, making it purpose-built for the unique demands of humanoid robot control rather than being a generic AI model.

Which major companies are using NVIDIA's robotics technology?

Global industry leaders including Boston Dynamics, Caterpillar, Franka Robotics, Humanoid, LG Electronics, and NEURA Robotics are already deploying NVIDIA's robotics stack to create new AI-driven robots[1]. Additionally, companies like Salesforce, Milestone, Hitachi, and Uber are using Cosmos Reason for AI agents in various applications[2].

What is NVIDIA IGX Thor and what does it do?

NVIDIA IGX Thor is an industrial edge computing platform available later in January 2026 that offers high-performance AI computing with enterprise software support and functional safety[1]. It brings advanced AI and robotics capabilities to industrial edge environments, enabling deployment of sophisticated AI models on equipment and job sites in industries like construction and mining.

How does NVIDIA's approach accelerate robot development?

NVIDIA provides a complete stack including processors, software frameworks, simulation tools, and open models that span the entire robot development lifecycle[1]. Companies can use synthetic video generation and simulation environments to train robots before physical deployment, significantly reducing development time and risk while enabling rapid iteration on new behaviors and capabilities.