NVIDIA has unveiled a suite of technologies to accelerate humanoid robot development, including NVIDIA Isaac GR00T N1, the world’s first open, fully customizable foundation model for generalized humanoid reasoning and skills.
Additional technologies include the NVIDIA Isaac GR00T Blueprint for generating synthetic data and Newton, an open-source physics engine developed in collaboration with Google DeepMind and Disney Research. GR00T N1, available now, is designed to help address labor shortages by enabling robots to perform complex tasks through its dual-system architecture. Inspired by human cognition, System 1 handles fast-thinking action, while System 2 enables methodical decision-making. Using vision language models and synthetic data from NVIDIA Omniverse, GR00T N1 can generalize across tasks such as grasping and multi-step processes, with applications in material handling and inspection.
Humanoid robot developers, including Agility Robotics, Boston Dynamics, Mentee Robotics, and NEURA Robotics, have early access to GR00T N1. NVIDIA showcased a successful collaboration with 1X Technologies, where its humanoid robot performed domestic tidying tasks using GR00T N1’s capabilities. The company emphasized adaptability and learning as key to the future of humanoid robots.
NVIDIA’s partnership with Google DeepMind and Disney Research aims to enhance robotics learning through Newton, a physics engine optimized for simulation frameworks like MuJoCo and NVIDIA Isaac Lab. MuJoCo-Warp, developed by Google DeepMind and NVIDIA, is expected to speed up robotics machine learning by over 70x. Disney Research is also leveraging Newton to create expressive robotic characters, including Star Wars-inspired BDX droids.
To address the challenge of obtaining large-scale real-world training data, NVIDIA introduced the Isaac GR00T Blueprint for synthetic motion generation, allowing developers to generate extensive synthetic training data from limited human demonstrations. By combining synthetic and real data, NVIDIA improved GR00T N1’s performance by 40 percent. The GR00T N1 dataset is now available on Hugging Face as part of a broader open-source physical AI dataset.
NVIDIA GR00T N1 training data, task evaluation scenarios, and the Isaac GR00T Blueprint are now accessible for developers on platforms like GitHub. Additionally, the newly announced NVIDIA DGX Spark personal AI supercomputer provides an all-in-one solution for expanding GR00T N1’s capabilities for new tasks and environments.
TrendForce says NVIDIA’s introduction of the Isaac GR00T N1 foundation model at GTC 2025 marks a significant advancement in the humanoid robotics sector. This open-source model is designed to enhance the adaptability and efficiency of AI-driven humanoid robots through comprehensive datasets, multi-modal inputs, and flexible training capabilities. By allowing fine-tuning with both real and synthetic data, GR00T N1 is poised to accelerate AI model development and reduce the time-to-market for humanoid robots, contributing to the projected $4 billion market by 2028.
Competition in the humanoid robotics space is intensifying, with Figure AI’s Helix and Google’s Gemini Robotics entering the market. These models, like GR00T N1, integrate motion planning with cognitive decision-making to improve robotic autonomy. However, NVIDIA’s superior dataset quality and deployment flexibility provide it with a competitive advantage, positioning GR00T N1 as a leading solution in the field.
NVIDIA’s broader vision for humanoid robots aligns with its strategy to drive next-generation AI computing. The company’s AI computing solutions, including the Jetson Orin NX, Jetson Nano, and AGX Orin, cater to various robotic applications, offering up to 275 TOPS of computing power. This ecosystem supports NVIDIA’s ambition to be the backbone of humanoid robotic development, ensuring that AI models operate at peak efficiency.
The NVIDIA Omniverse platform plays a crucial role in training humanoid robots through simulations and digital twins. Western developers and Chinese firms such as UBTECH, Unitree, and Fourier Intelligence leverage Omniverse to optimize AI model training. The introduction of additional tools such as the Newton physics engine and GR00T Blueprint further strengthens NVIDIA’s dominance, enabling more robust and adaptable robotic applications.
Although GR00T N1 is an open-source model, its reliance on NVIDIA’s hardware ecosystem suggests a strategically maintained closed-loop approach. Developers using GR00T N1 will likely integrate NVIDIA’s proprietary hardware solutions to maximize performance, reinforcing NVIDIA’s stronghold in the humanoid robotics market.
This mirrors the company’s success in the AI industry with CUDA technology and GPU chips, ensuring sustained leadership through a combination of open-source accessibility and ecosystem control. Consequently, GR00T N1 is not just a technical innovation but a strategic move to secure NVIDIA’s influence in the rapidly evolving humanoid robotics industry.
Baburajan Kizhakedath
