FANUC and NVIDIA have entered a strategic partnership aimed at accelerating the development of AI-powered industrial robots. The collaboration marks a shift toward robotics systems that combine traditional precision automation with real-time perception, simulation and autonomous decision-making.
FANUC will integrate NVIDIA’s computing stack across its robot portfolio, including support for ROS 2 and Python-based programming. The company plans to make the ROS 2 driver for all FANUC robots publicly available, enabling developers to build applications that use modern software tools and simulation workflows. The partnership also extends to NVIDIA’s digital-twin technologies, which allow full factory environments to be recreated virtually for testing, training and deployment.
The initiative aligns with emerging concepts of “physical AI”: robots able to sense their environment, interpret sensor data and adjust actions dynamically instead of relying solely on fixed, pre-programmed routines. NVIDIA’s infrastructure is intended to support real-time perception, motion planning and environment modelling, enabling robots to handle variable tasks and interact more safely with human workers.
FANUC, which has shipped more than one million robots worldwide, aims to broaden its automation capabilities through this partnership. By combining its hardware and industrial control expertise with NVIDIA’s AI and simulation technology, the company expects to expand automation into areas that require flexibility, adaptation and safe human-robot collaboration.
Financial markets responded quickly to the announcement, with FANUC’s stock showing a notable increase following publication of the partnership details. Industry observers view the move as part of a wider trend in which major robotics manufacturers integrate AI compute platforms to meet the growing demand for adaptable automation in manufacturing and logistics.
Both companies have stated that the collaboration is intended to reduce development time, simplify deployment and support more advanced robotic applications. The impact is expected to be most visible in factories adopting hybrid workflows where robots operate alongside people and must respond to changing conditions. The introduction of open, ROS-based interfaces may also lower the barrier for developers building new applications on FANUC systems.
