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Marc Raibert criticizes NVIDIA's physics simulation fidelity, notes improvement but signals open-source gap limiting robotics advancement
Marc Raibert· Boston Dynamics· Robotics· 2026-07-24· about NVIDIA (NVDA)
“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 dominates robotics simulation via Isaac Sim, but Raibert's criticism of 'closed parts' suggests proprietary limitations are slowing industry adoption. This indicates demand for open-source or competing physics simulation platforms that could enable faster hardware-in-the-loop development cycles.
Investment implication
Companies offering open-source physics engines (e.g., PyBullet, MuJoCo competitors) or modular, transparent simulation frameworks could capture share from roboticists frustrated with NVIDIA's proprietary constraints. NVIDIA's simulation roadmap may face pressure to open APIs or lose mindshare among advanced robotics labs.