OBOTICS
Middle East’s first AI robotics lab launches
Nvidia has teamed with Abu Dhabi’s Technology Innovation Institute to launch the Middle East’s first AI and robotics lab to develop humanoid robotics and embodied AI.
The lab will focus on:
- Building next-generation robots, including humanoids, four-legged robots and robotic arms
- Using Nvidia’s latest GPU chips, including Thor, to accelerate robotics platforms
- Developing AI models with applications across sectors
- Advancing Physical AI
- Developing large language models such as TII’s Falcon family, the Middle East’s largest AI models
By pairing Nvidia’s computing pipeline with TII’s robotics and autonomy research, the partners are positioning themselves at the crest of rising demand for generative AI in physical systems.
Dr. Najwa Aaraj, CEO of TII, said the collaboration marks a major step toward building AI-enhanced robotic systems capable of reasoning, adapting and acting in complex environments.
“We are laying the foundation for a new era of intelligent machines,” Aaraj said.
The news also comes as part of the UAE’s wider strategy to establish itself as a leader in the AI and robotics space.
The country has been ramping up its investments in the technologies in recent years, and in May. it signed a multi-billion-dollar AI Acceleration Partnership with the U.S. The deal includes plans to build a 1GW AI data center powered by Nvidia chips and a 5GW UAE-US AI Campus, both located in Abu Dhabi.
From Nvidia’s side, the partnership comes amid its growing push to move into the humanoid robotics space.
“Nvidia is particularly interested in humanoid robotics because training their control algorithms will likely require massive datasets that are hard to obtain in the real world, and are likely to be generated using simulated worlds,” Benjamin Lee, a professor of engineering and computer science at the University of Pennsylvania, told The Deep View.
“These simulations will require heavy use of GPUs,” he added. “Some companies and countries are likely building massive data centers, filling them with GPUs, and asking the sort of research questions (e.g., humanoid robotics) that could benefit from all of that computing infrastructure.”