"Everything that moves in the future will be robotic."

And other great Jensen Huang moments from 'Woodstock for Nerds' GTC2024

Were you at ‘Woodstock for Nerds’ this week? Yep, it was “insane” to quote Jensen Huang, who also said…

“The Omniverse is the operating system of the future.”

“Everything to everyone within a second.”

“We’re making computers smarter so people don’t have to learn computer science.”

In an interview with CNBC’s Jim Cramer, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang explained why his company is bullish on humanoid robotics. For best technical explanation, see Evan Ackerman in IEEE Spectrum, in the section below this.

OR just watch the keynote. Then go to the robotics sessions, starting with Vincent Vanhoucke and then Jon Barron, and then … Disney, USD or industrial robotics, or the “conversations with” or …

OR read Benj Edwards in Ars Technica: NVIDIA announces “moonshot” to create embodied human-level AI in robot form

OR read Danny Fortson (Danny in the Valley podcast) in The Sunday Times: AI-powered robots learn to stand on their own two feet

I get my own quote in The Sunday Times :) “Humanoid Robots are the automobiles of the 21st century” - the context being that Danny Fortson was just talking about Henry Ford’s apocryphal quote at the outset of the age of the automobile; “If I asked people what they wanted, they’d have said a better horse.”

“There are more than 30 companies that I’m aware of that are developing humanoid robots with plans to commercialise in the next year,” Andra Keay, an investor and managing director of trade group Silicon Valley Robotics. She compared their arrival to other world-altering inventions: “Humanoid robots are the automobiles of the 21st century.”

The Times also quotes Brett Adcock from Figure:

We are in the early stages of an AI and robotics revolution. Everywhere from factories to farmland, the cost of labour will decrease until it becomes equivalent to the price of renting a robot, facilitating a long-term, holistic reduction in costs. Over time, humans could leave the loop altogether as robots become capable of building other robots,” he said. “We have the potential to alter the course of history and fundamentally improve millions of lives.”

Pras Velagupudi from Agility Robotics:

Pras Velagapudi, chief architect of Agility Robotics, a developer of a bipedal warehouse robot called Digit, said: “The newest AI models are very promising in solving some of the upcoming problems that we had anticipated would take years or decades to solve. We’re going to see these types of robots out in the world much faster than we originally anticipated.”

And even the skeptic from Gartner is on board the robot express. Although personally I think Star Wars is always going to be more fun than McDonalds.

Dwight Klappich, an analyst at tech consultancy Gartner, is more circumspect. The path from a whizzy video to a truly capable robot capable of operating in the real world, and all the variables it presents, is very long indeed. “Over the next 20 years, you’ll go into a McDonald’s and it’s going to look like Star Wars. There will be robots doing a lot of the work.”

Read more (paywalled I’m afraid) at The Sunday Times (UK) https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/8e02a869-5a20-4cae-9657-6be87e16efa4

Did you just switch to a paid subscription? Thank you! It makes you an angel investor in the work I do at Silicon Valley Robotics as a startup advisor, and accelerator. If you are a robotics company, March is a great time to join Silicon Valley Robotics and our startup accelerator program.

Top Robotics News:

Nvidia Announces GR00T, a Foundation Model for Humanoids

The company also announces long-term support for the Robot Operating System.

The Open Source Robotics Alliance

The other big announcement is actually from the Open Source Robotics Foundation, which is launching the Open Source Robotics Alliance (OSRA), a “new initiative to strengthen the governance of our open-source robotics software projects and ensure the health of the Robot Operating System (ROS) Suite community for many years to come.” Nvidia is an inaugural platinum member of the OSRA, but they’re not alone—other platinum members include Intrinsic and Qualcomm. Other significant members include Apex, Clearpath Robotics, Ekumen, eProsima, PickNik, Silicon Valley Robotics, and Zettascale.

“The [Open Source Robotics Foundation] had planned to restructure its operations by broadening community participation and expanding its impact in the larger ROS ecosystem,” explains Vanessa Yamzon Orsi, CEO of the Open Source Robotics Foundation. “The sale of [Open Source Robotics Corporation] was the first step towards that vision, and the launch of the OSRA is the next big step towards that change.”

We had time for a brief Q&A with Orsi to better understand how this will affect the ROS community going forward.

Read more at: EVAN ACKERMAN in IEEE Spectrum

Foxglove 2.0: Unifying Robotics Observability

Setting a new standard for robotics observability

https://foxglove.dev/blog/foxglove-2-0-unifying-robotics-observability

Robotics in the Era of Foundation Models

More Robotics News:

March Newsletter

2024 IEEE RAS Award Recipients Announced!

The IEEE Robotics and Automation Society recognizes and congratulates the following individuals for their outstanding accomplishments and service to RAS and the robotics and automation community. They will be honored during an award ceremony, to be held during the IEEE International Conference on Robotics & Automation (ICRA 2024) in May. Please join us in congratulating these outstanding recipients!

RAS Pioneer Award

Mark R. Cutkosky - Stanford University (CA), USA
“for contributions to Robot Design: from Bioinspiration to Biounderstanding”

Bruno Siciliano - University of Naples Federico II, Italy
“For fundamental contributions to robotics research in the areas of manipulation and control, human–robot cooperation, and service robotics”

RAS George Saridis Leadership Award in Robotics and Automation

Jaydev P. Desai - Georgia Institute of Technology (GA), USA
“For Foundational Research in Medical Robotics and Swarm Robotics and Service in Society Management”

IEEE RAS Distinguished Service Award

Venkat N. Krovi - Clemson University (SC), USA
“In recognition of his distinguished leadership, outstanding service, and innovative contributions to IEEE RAS Conferences and Technical Activities”

Marcia O'Malley - Rice University (TX), USA
“For outstanding service as Editor-in-Chief of the RAS Conference Editorial Board and various contributions to the haptics community”

Early Academic Career Award in Robotics and Automation

Pulkit Agrawal - Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MA), USA
“For pioneering contributions to self-supervised robot learning and advancing sensorimotor control for contact-rich, dynamic, and dexterous tasks”

Roberto Calandra - Technical University of Dresden
“For contributions to touch sensing, processing, and their application to manipulation”

Josie Hughes - EPFL, Switzerland
“Fundamental contributions to soft robot design and embodied intelligence”

Lerrel Pinto - New York University (NY), USA
“For pioneering contributions in self-supervised robot learning”

Jiangfan Yu - Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, China
“For his contribution to the understanding, adaptive control and translational biomedicine of micro-/nanorobot swarms”

Early Government or Industry Career Award in Robotics and Automation

Vincent Vanhoucke - Google DeepMind, USA
“For outstanding contributions to robot learning, with applications in vision and language for manipulation”

IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation Most Influential Paper Award

Auke Ijspeert, Stefan Schaal, Jun Nakanishi
“Movement imitation with nonlinear dynamical systems in humanoid robots”
Proceedings of the 2002 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation

RAS Chapter of the Year Award

Jordan IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Chapter
Chair: Mohammad Salah

RAS Student Chapter of the Year Award

IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Student Branch Chapter Tafila Technical University, Jordan
Chair: Hamza Albzour
Co-chair: Abdulqader Dada

And Even More Robotics News:

Robot manicures, cocktails and pizzas: Vegas gets automated - Washington Post

Restaurant robots are the ‘vanguard of automation’, top analyst says. It’s not coming for fast-food workers’ jobs - it’s actually helping them - Fortune

Restaurant Robotics Revs Up Amid Labor Shortages - Crunchbase News

How Zipline Designed Its Droid Delivery System; Inspired by dolphins, the Droid seems complex, but it solves hard problems - IEEE Spectrum

Robot, Robots, and More Warehouse Robots! - Logistics Viewpoints

This company is using the AI in ChatGPT to help warehouses cope better with the unexpected - Business Insider

UK-based Automated Architecture raises €3M to craft sustainable, affordable homes using robots - Silicon Canals

The necessary collaboration between robots and humans in space exploration - SpaceDaily

The Intuitive da Vinci 5’s top design changes: ‘This is groundbreaking for robotic surgery’ - The Robot Report

Stealthy startup Mendaera is developing a fist-sized medical robot with Dr. Fred Moll’s support - The Robot Report

Avail Medsystems tech sold to robotics startup founded by former Auris leaders - MassDevice

Interplay between plant knowledge and robotics for innovations in precision fruit cultivation - Vision+Robotics

Acre Venture Partners closes $140M agrifoodtech fund, places bets on ag robotics, AI/ML - AgFunderNews

Samsung’s Harman is kitting out robocabs - DigiTimes Asia

Whatever Happened to All Those Care Robots? - The Atlantic

Non-metallic squishy magnets may soon power robots - TechBriefsTV

Robotics Events:

28-29 March - Curbivore - Downtown Los Angeles

Delivery & Mobility Innovation Converge at Curbivore - Special Offer for Members!

Join me at Curbivore, where the worlds of delivery robotics, mobility innovation, food automation, civic technology and policy / regulation converge, March 28 & 29 in Downtown LA. Meet with and hear from leaders at Starship, Waymo, DoorDash, Uber, Coco Robotics, Zenblen, as well as investors, media, and more - plus get your hands on all the latest machinery. First time attendees can join for just $20 when they register with code RS20.

5 April - Spring 2024 BAIR Robotics Workshop - BAIR Berkeley & Online

5-6 April - SF Symphony: Press Play Carol Reiley and the Robots - Soundbox SF

ROBOT BLOCK PARTY IS POSTPONED UNTIL JULYish

6 April - Robot Block Party - Circuit Launch San Leandro at Bayfair Mall

(more venue changes with a new Circuit Launch location at Bayfair Mall)

18-21 April 2024 - RoboGames - ??

21 April 2024 - Robots on Ice - Yerba Buena Skating Rink SF

Some more upcoming academic robotics conferences:

• Haptics 2024 Long Beach CA 7 Apr - 10 Apr

• Robosoft 2024 San Diego CA 14 Apr - 17 Apr

• ICRA 2024 Yokohama Japan 13 May - 17 May 2024

• ARSO 2024 Hong Kong, China 20 May - 22 May 2024

• AIM 2024 Boston MA 14 July - 18 July

• CASE 2024 Puglia Italy 28 Aug - 1 Sep 2024

• ICRA@40 Rotterdam NL 23 Sep - 26 Sep 2024

• IROS 2024 AbuDhabi 14 Oct - 18 Oct 2024

• Humanoids 2024 Nancy FR 26 Nov - 28 Nov

• ICRA 2025 Atlanta Georgia 17 May - 23 May 2025