Nvidia, a leading AI technology firm, has launched a series of initiatives aimed at accelerating the development of humanoid robots. The company's CEO, Jensen Huang, revealed a groundbreaking collaboration with Disney Research and Google’s DeepMind AI lab during his keynote address at the 2025 GTC developers conference.

The partnership focuses on the creation of Newton, an open-source physics engine that allows robots to refine their skills and tackle complex tasks with improved precision.

Huang hailed the collaboration, declaring that "the age of generalist robotics is here." Disney Research will be one of the first organisations to implement Newton, using it to enhance its robotic character platform.

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This platform powers next-generation entertainment robots, including the Star Wars-inspired "BDX" droids that appeared during Huang’s presentation. Kyle Laughlin, Senior VP at Walt Disney Imagineering Research & Development, emphasised that the collaboration would enable the creation of more expressive and engaging robots, helping to deliver unique experiences for Disney guests.

Alongside the Newton project, Nvidia introduced Isaac GR00T N1, a fully customisable foundation model designed for humanoid reasoning and skills. Available now, GR00T N1 is the first in a family of models that Nvidia expects to release to robotics developers globally.

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Huang demonstrated the robot's ability to perform domestic tasks autonomously using a "post-trained policy" based on GR00T N1, a result of Nvidia's AI training partnership with 1X.

The GR00T N1 model is designed to generalise across common tasks such as object manipulation, as well as handle more complex, multi-step activities. Early adopters of GR00T N1 include Agility Robotics, Boston Dynamics, Mentee Robotics, and Neura Robotics, all of which are set to advance the next generation of AI-driven robotics.