Nvidia Launches New “Robot Brain” Priced at $3,000

⬤ Nvidia has unveiled the latest generation of its robotics processors, known as Thor.

⬤ Major tech players including Amazon, Meta, and Boston Dynamics are among the first customers for these “robot brains.”

⬤ The new processors cost 3,000 dollars each when purchased in quantities of 1,000 or more, with the developer kit priced at 3,500 dollars.

For over a decade, Nvidia has been developing its Jetson platform for robotics and AI computing. Now, the rise of generative AI has convinced the company that the “robotics renaissance” is near. Nvidia says the dramatic performance leap in its new Jetson Thor platform will enable major advances in real-time reasoning and environmental interaction, sparking strong interest from leading robotics companies.

The company announced that production units and developer kits for the new Jetson generation are now available. Early adopters include Amazon, Meta, John Deere, OpenAI, and Boston Dynamics, all aiming to drive a robotics revolution similar to the impact that ChatGPT had on generative AI.

Built on Nvidia’s Blackwell GPU architecture, Jetson Thor delivers up to 2,070 teraflops of performance, a more than 7.5-fold improvement over its predecessor, the AGX Orin, while maintaining the same compact footprint of 100 by 87 millimeters. This leap in performance is partly due to the expanded power range, now between 40 and 130 watts compared to the previous 15 to 60 watts, alongside a 3.5x improvement in energy efficiency.

The key advantage of Thor is its ability to run multiple AI models simultaneously, allowing for faster data processing and real-time environmental awareness. Nvidia began developing Jetson in 2014 to support robotics, autonomous vehicles, and edge AI applications. Now, several companies plan to integrate Thor into the next generation of their robotic systems.

For example, Agility Robotics, which works with Amazon to automate warehouses, will use Thor in the sixth generation of its Digit humanoid robot. Boston Dynamics is also preparing a new version of its Atlas robot powered by Thor.

However, this leap forward brings challenges along with opportunity. While automation will create new roles, studies suggest that many human jobs could become more repetitive as robots take on complex tasks. More concerning is that Nvidia cannot fully control how its technology is used. Recent reports revealed that military equipment, which was supposed to be restricted, had been built using Nvidia’s Orin modules. With the advanced capabilities of Thor, the potential implications are even greater.

The Jetson Thor T5000 units start at 2,999 dollars for bulk orders of 1,000 units, while the AGX Thor developer kit costs around 3,499 dollars.