The AI Accelerator features an embedded NVIDIA Jetson Orin box combined with PolyScope X. | Source: Universal Robots
At NVIDIA GTC 2025 last week, Teradyne Robotics unveiled a suite of artificial intelligence-driven tools that it developed with NVIDIA. The event featured the first public demonstration of the AI Accelerator in commercially viable applications.
The AI Accelerator is a toolkit that Teradyne Robotics company Universal Robots (UR) designed in collaboration with NVIDIA to enable the development of AI-powered applications. It brings AI acceleration to UR’s PolyScope X software.
“Physical AI equips robots with the capacity to perceive and respond to the real world, providing the versatility and problem-solving capabilities that are often required by complex use cases that have been out of scope until now,” said James Davidson, the chief AI officer at Teradyne Robotics. “Instead of merely executing pre-programmed instructions, robots empowered by AI gain the ability to learn, adapt, and make informed decisions grounded in their sensory input.”
“Think of a logistics operation where robots navigate through a warehouse with constantly changing layouts and obstacles. Or a construction site where robots assist in assembly tasks within unpredictable and changing environments,” he added. “The AI Accelerator helps our cobots better understand their surroundings, plan optimal paths, and execute tasks safely and efficiently in previously unmanageable spaces.”
Teradyne Robotics is a developer of advanced collaborative and mobile robotic technology. Its companies, Universal Robots and Mobile Industrial Robots (MiR), said they can help businesses of all sizes improve operational efficiency. Teradyne Robotics is a division of Teradyne, a leading supplier of automatic test equipment and industrial automation.
Collaborative robotics leader Universal Robots first released the AI Accelerator in October 2024.
AI Accelerator includes upgrades
“The AI Accelerator provides developers with an extensible platform to build and de-risk applications and reduce time to market,” said Ujjwal Kumar, group president of Teradyne Robotics. “Our new partner applications powered by the AI Accelerator clearly demonstrate how Universal Robots is becoming the preferred platform for physical AI, addressing previously unsolvable challenges in collaborative robotics.”
The toolkit is powered by NVIDIA Isaac accelerated libraries and AI models, running on the NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin system-on-module (SoM). The company said the new version of AI Accelerator integrates the latest release of NVIDIA Isaac ROS, specifically NVIDIA Isaac Manipulator components, enhancing pose-estimation and path-planning performance.
The latest version of the AI Accelerator also offers high-speed GMSL connectivity on vision sensors, upgraded from USB3, and it runs on the newest version of PolyScope X (10.8).
“Robotics and physical AI deployments are on an accelerated trajectory driven by advancements in generative AI and simulation with NVIDIA’s Isaac robotics platform,” said Deepu Talla, vice president of robotics and edge AI at NVIDIA. “Our collaboration with Teradyne Robotics brings this latest technology and benefits to Teradyne’s extensive developer and partner network.”
While the AI Accelerator is primarily focused on UR cobots, the underlying AI and accelerated computing technology also benefit MiR, another Teradyne company featured at GTC.
For example, the MiR1200 pallet jack uses 3D vision and the NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin module for pallet detection, allowing the pallet jack to identify, pick up, and deliver pallets with precision in complex environments.
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