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Marc Raibert: Physics-based simulation now critical to robotics development; NVIDIA's simulation tools historically lacked physical realism but have improved

Marc Raibert· Boston Dynamics· Robotics· 2026-07-22· about NVIDIA (NVDA)
Physics-based simulation. Now, it has to be physics-based simulation developed by real engineers who have real data and know what the physical robot really is, not a not a video game version of the robot. That's a little bit of dig at Nvidia because in the early days, their simulations were really video game simulations. Now, they've done a lot of work to make them much more physically realistic. There's still some closed parts that need to be open.

Why it matters

NVIDIA's physics simulation tools are becoming foundational infrastructure for robotics R&D. The acknowledgment that they still have 'closed parts that need to be open' suggests ongoing engineering work to meet robotics industry requirements.

Investment implication

NVIDIA's expansion into physics-based simulation for robotics (particularly with Isaac Sim and related tools) represents a critical picks-and-shovels opportunity as the robotics industry scales. Companies relying on NVIDIA's simulation stack become dependent on its continued development.

Source

Fireside chat with Marc Raibert (RAI Institute) & Marc Theermann (Dynamic Creatures) | MACHINA 2026 (YouTube)
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