In this week’s News Briefing, we take a look at NVIDIA’s annual GPU Conference 2024 and the significant impact NVIDIA’s announcements will have on the future of robotics, collaborative robots, and AMR.
The moment NVIDIA marked a watershed moment in robotics
A brave new world of AI for robots, collaborative robots, and AMR
One of the corporate events of 2024 will have huge implications for all of robotics. It’s Santa Clara-based NVIDIA’s annual GPU festival. What’s new in robotics this week? Covering events consumes most of our digital ink.
Autonomy now means ‘intelligence’. When it comes to robots, collaborative robots, and AMRs, the jig is complete unless they can acquire a few smart features by integrating with artificial intelligence as quickly as possible. NVIDIA president and co-founder Jensen Huang opened several doors for you at the 16th GPU Technology Conference (GTC) (March 17-21), then encouraged you to take your time and look back to stay wiser. .
This was Huang’s version of March Madness, and during NVIDIA’s annual keynote, he used a ton of 3-pointers to express the thrill, thrill, and excitement. Addressing an online audience of 250,000 (10,000 of whom were individuals), he did not disappoint. Huang outlined his vision for the future of computational and generative AI and how it will destroy Moore’s Law.
The importance of robots to AI and vice versa cannot be overemphasized. Without robots, there are no GPUs for AI. Robotics creates AI hardware where generative AI works its magic.
Here’s a video clip that shows how a GPU (meaning graphics processing unit) is assembled. No robots, no GPUs. Reaching the tipping point in accelerated computing and generative AI cannot be achieved without robotics-based GPUs.
And without GPUs, automating advanced warehouse and manufacturing through digital twins is impossible. This video shows how intertwined their relationships are. Huang explains in the video: “In the future, everything that moves will be a robot.” Think about it for a moment. The place of robotics in future logistics, manufacturing and society is at the center of everything.
“Generative AI is the defining technology of our time,” Huang said. And he claims that Blackwell, NVIDIA’s latest GPU with 208 billion transistors, will lead a new industrial revolution. Huang also demonstrated the role of digital twins in being able to simulate, test, define and redefine “real-time AI at scale before launching it into industrial environments.” It will definitely save you money! He used warehouse footage taken from above to demonstrate a digital twin that would act like ‘air traffic control’ to monitor autonomous machines and autonomous people below. Best of all, all you need is a browser to run everything.
For example, using a cloud-based digital twin, SMEs can pre-plan the space for robot use in a factory or warehouse, tailor it precisely to their needs, and then conduct test runs on all aspects, including raw materials. Before purchasing a single robot or collaborative robot, look at the robot, conveyor system, and workforce.
Surprisingly, NVIDIA made nearly 40 “separate announcements” at GTC, including Blackwell with 208 billion transistors. It is the “world’s most powerful chip,” containing 208 billion transistors. The chip, called Blackwell, is aimed at applications such as deep learning, engineering simulation, and AI.
To demonstrate brute force, NVIDIA’s Metropolis platform for vision AI “combined data from 100 simulated ceiling-mounted cameras with multi-camera tracking” to create a map of worker activity throughout the warehouse. Maps produced by Metropolis help you optimize your AMR route.
Teradyne Robotics
It seems that some robot/cobot vendors have undoubtedly recognized the inevitability, benefits and enormous potential of GPUs and have been working with NVIDIA for some time. North Reading, Mass.-based Teradyne, owner of MiR, a collaborative robot developer and AMR specialist for Denmark’s Universal Robots (UR), has been one of the suppliers familiar with NVIDIA’s GPU products.
As a lifelong Bostonian, I love Teradyne’s ring to having two robotics companies under its umbrella: Teradyne Robotics.
The move could also bode well for future internal opportunities for UR Robotics to join Teradyne’s semiconductor business. Teradyne’s partnership with Italy-based TechnoProbe will see cobots and probe cards working together.
At GTC, Teradyne’s Universal Robots demonstrated an AI-based autonomous inspection system using Nvidia’s Jetson AGX Orin edge AI computer to create robot path plans 50 to 80 times faster than current systems. “MiR is using the same module in its new pallet jack AMR, which uses 3D vision to identify, pick up and deliver pallets with “unprecedented precision” even in dynamic and complex environments.”
NVIDIA also announced “a collection of pre-trained models, libraries, and reference hardware for robot developers. The Isaac Manipulator platform provides modular AI capabilities and GPU-accelerated libraries for robotic arms. This speeds up path planning by 80x and allows developers to automate more robotic tasks. Early adopters include Yaskawa, Universal Robots, PickNik Robotics, Ready Robotics, and Franka Robotics.
According to MarketWatch, although NVIDIA appears to own and surpass the world in GPUs, its stock price has fallen slightly.
Shares of NVIDIA Corp. NVDA fell 2.50% to $902.50 on Wednesday, in what proved to be a generally favorable trading session for stock markets, with the S&P 500 index SPX rising 0.86% to 5,248.49 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA rising. 1.22% to 39,760.08.”
Just goes to show that you can’t please everyone.
Regardless of their shared track record, NVIDIA has taken robotics to new heights. Below is a closing video showing the future of robots and GPUs. enjoy.
