SoftBank and Yaskawa Electric, with support from NVIDIA, have demonstrated an advanced robot manipulation system utilising SoftBank’s “AI Data Center GPU Cloud.”
SoftBank is developing AI Data Center GPU Cloud as a development platform for Physical AI.
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The demonstration of Yaskawa Electric’s deformable object manipulation system was aimed at showcasing the platform’s capabilities as a physical AI development environment for robotics.
By leveraging the AI Data Center GPU Cloud, the companies were able to streamline tasks such as collecting robot motion data, training AI models, evaluating performance in simulation, and applying results to physical robots.
This approach is intended to simplify and speed up the introduction of physical AI into robotic tasks.
During the demonstration, SoftBank and Yaskawa Electric reported that robots were able to stably handle objects that require complex control, with AI learning in real time and sending precise instructions to the machines.
The companies applied their technology to the placement of wire harnesses, objects that generally change shape and orientation, into boxes.
The system used visual information to identify and manipulate the harnesses, with AI models providing guidance to the robots throughout the process.
SoftBank intends to advance the adoption of physical AI among companies by offering a dedicated development platform for this purpose.
Yaskawa Electric’s manipulation system, which incorporates vision-language-action (VLA) technology, is designed to process visual data, respond to task instructions, and carry out grasping and movement of objects whose shape and position are not pre-set.
The GPU cloud platform’s integration with Nvidia Omniverse libraries and the Cosmos model allowed for a virtual simulation environment, aiding in data collection, augmentation, and AI model verification prior to deploying on robots.
According to the companies, this process helps engineers review and improve AI models before real-world implementation.
SoftBank and Yaskawa Electric plan to continue developing and verifying robot systems using physical AI for a wider range of advanced industrial tasks, as well as expand platform capabilities for broader corporate adoption.
