Robots Take Center Stage at Nvidia GTC
Dexterity raises $95M, Dobot debuts Atom
You’d be mistaken for thinking all the robotic eyes in the world are pointed at San Jose today, thanks to the heaps of news coming out of Nvidia’s GTC developers conference. We’ve got plenty of updates from the chipmaker below, but other roboticists also hauled in big funding rounds and made meaty announcements this week.
Robotics Partnerships Abound at Jensen Huang-Helmed GTC
Nvidia’s five-day long GTC conference is in full swing, with CEO Jensen Huang receiving rapturous applause during today’s keynote address. A core theme of the day’s presentations was all the ways the AI-centric chipmaker is pushing autonomy and LLM-based technologies into the physical realm, often alongside key partners. Marquee developments include:
General Motors and Nvidia announced a collaboration on next-generation vehicles, factories and robots using AI, simulation and accelerated computing.
Nvidia’s upping its efforts in the hot humanoid space, with the launch of Nvidia Isaac GR00T N1, the world’s first open, fully customizable foundation model for generalized humanoid reasoning and skills.
Nvidia’s seeing increased adoption of its autonomous vehicle tech — DGX, Omniverse, Cosmos, OVX and Drive AGX — with uptake from the likes of GM, Volvo, Lenovo, Nuro, Gatik, Uber Freight, Torc, Flex, Magna, Plus, Foretellix, Carla, Capgemini, Nexar and more.
Nvidia has partnered with Yum! Brands — the world’s biggest restaurant operator — to bring AI solutions to over 500 restaurants this year alone. As part of its recently announced Byte by Yum! program, the collaboration includes automated voice order-taking, computer vision enhanced operations and accelerated restaurant intelligence.
Other industry-shaping news includes the expansion of the company’s Omniverse physical AI operating system, A collaboration with GE on healthcare diagnostics and the launch of Teradyne Robotics’ AI Accelerator toolkit. See Nvidia’s full list of announcements here.
Dexterity Raises $95 Million Round
Another week, another huge round for a robotics startup! Redwood City based Dexterity just closed on $95M in funding, at a $1.65 billion valuation, for its logistics and parcel handling solutions; Dexterity has a “superhumanoid” dual-armed robot, named DexR. Investors include Lightspeed Venture Partners and Sumitomo Corporation.
Dobot’s Atom Enters the Kitchen
Chinese robotics company Dobot is getting into the humanoid game, and like many of its competitors it’s showcasing the machine’s functionality in the kitchen. Dubbed Atom, the robot features 28 degrees of freedom and ±0.05mm precision, which evidently is more than enough to toast bread, use an air fryer, compose a plate and even pick up cherries.
In Other News
Roomba-maker iRobot warns bankruptcy is likely nigh. Ainos and Ugo develop robots than can sniff and smell. AI agents take center stage at HumanX. Singapore launches National Robotics Programme. Simbe and Badger inventory bots head to Midwestern Kroger locations. Hugging Face expands LeRobot AV dev platform. Amazon’s Just Walk Out tech heads to North Dakota c-store. Kraft Heinz embraces automation and AI. Keenon Dinerbot wins iF Design Award. Apptronik hauls in additional $53M. Tesla receives California approval for ride-hailing.