Industry Leaders Embrace NVIDIA Isaac for AI-Powered Robotics Development

Joerg Hiller  Jun 05, 2024 01:02  UTC 17:02

3 Min Read

Leading companies in the robotics sector, including BYD Electronics, Siemens, Teradyne Robotics, and Intrinsic, have adopted NVIDIA's Isaac robotics platform for developing AI-powered autonomous machines, according to NVIDIA News.

Adoption of NVIDIA Isaac Robotics Platform

NVIDIA announced that its Isaac robotics platform is being integrated by over a dozen global robotics industry leaders. These companies are leveraging NVIDIA Isaac's accelerated libraries, physically based simulation, and AI models to enhance the efficiency and safety of their operations across factories, warehouses, and distribution centers. The platform aims to enable intelligent assistance for repetitive or highly precise tasks.

Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA, highlighted the significance of this development, stating, “The era of robotics has arrived. Everything that moves will one day be autonomous.” Huang also mentioned the advancement of the NVIDIA robotics stack, which includes Omniverse for simulation applications, Project GR00T humanoid foundation models, and the Jetson Thor robotics computer.

Key Features of NVIDIA Isaac

The Isaac platform comprises several NVIDIA-accelerated libraries, AI foundation models, and simulation technologies, which are readily available for integration:

  • NVIDIA Isaac ROS — Modular ROS 2 packages bringing NVIDIA-acceleration and AI models to ROS community developers.
  • NVIDIA Isaac Perceptor — Provides multi-camera, 3D surround-vision capabilities for AI-based autonomous mobile robots.
  • NVIDIA Isaac Manipulator — Simplifies development of AI-enabled robot arms that can perceive, understand, and interact with their environments.
  • NVIDIA Isaac Sim — Simulates, tests, and validates robots in physically based environments, generating synthetic data using the NVIDIA Omniverse platform.
  • NVIDIA Isaac Lab — Optimized for reinforcement, imitation, and transfer learning for AI robot foundation model training.

Global Adoption and Applications

Industry leaders across Asia, Europe, and North America are early adopters of NVIDIA Isaac. Siemens, a global leader in industrial automation software and systems, utilizes NVIDIA Isaac Sim for its software-in-the-loop capabilities. This enables Siemens to accelerate the development and testing of robotics skills like SIMATIC Robot PickAI (PRO) and SIMATIC Robot Pack AI.

Intrinsic, a subsidiary of Alphabet, has successfully tested Isaac Manipulator in its robot-agnostic software platform, demonstrating its potential for scalable robotic-grasping skills. BYD Electronics, a subsidiary of BYD Group, is developing autonomous mobile robots using NVIDIA Isaac Sim and Isaac Perceptor to enhance worker safety, reduce production costs, and improve production intelligence.

Teradyne Robotics companies, Universal Robots (UR) and Mobile Industrial Robots (MiR), are integrating NVIDIA Isaac into their automation solutions. UR is incorporating Isaac Manipulator into its PolyScope X software platform, while MiR is leveraging Isaac Sim to generate synthetic data for real-world deployments.

Expanding the Isaac Ecosystem

The NVIDIA Isaac platform is designed to be modular, allowing companies to adopt individual or multiple technologies. Companies like ArcBest, Gideon, idealworks, and RGo Robotics are leveraging Isaac Perceptor for developing autonomous mobile robots. Meanwhile, Solomon, Techman Robot, Vention, and Yaskawa are utilizing Isaac Manipulator for building AI-based robotic arms.

Over 100 companies are adopting Isaac Sim for simulating, testing, and validating robotic applications. This includes notable names like Hexagon, Husqvarna Group, and MathWorks. Additionally, Isaac Lab is being adopted by companies such as Agility, Boston Dynamics, Figure AI, Fourier Intelligence, and Sanctuary AI.

Robotics Innovation at COMPUTEX

During his keynote at COMPUTEX, Jensen Huang demonstrated robots used in various sectors, including transportation, healthcare, and industrial manufacturing. Foxconn, the world’s largest electronics manufacturer, showcased a fully simulated autonomous factory in NVIDIA Omniverse, featuring AI robots developed by NVIDIA's partners.



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