Nvidia has officially made its open-source, pre-trained AI foundation model for humanoid robots publicly accessible. The Isaac GR00T N1, commonly referred to as Groot N1, was introduced at Nvidia’s annual GTC 2025 conference in San Jose, California, on March 18.
During his keynote address, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang declared, “The age of generalist robotics is here.” He further emphasized the significance of this development, stating, “With Nvidia Isaac GR00T N1 and new data-generation and robot-learning frameworks, robotics developers everywhere will open the next frontier in the age of AI.”
The AI foundation model was trained using both existing datasets and synthetically generated data. Nvidia also confirmed plans to release simulation frameworks and blueprints to facilitate the creation of synthetic training data for developers.
Humanoid Robotics Advancing with AI
The rise of generative AI has accelerated progress in humanoid robotics, making the vision of mass-produced, general-purpose robots that mimic human movement more achievable.
While companies like X1 and Figure continue refining and expanding their humanoid prototypes, industry giants such as Nvidia and Google are focusing on providing the AI technology necessary to power these machines. Recently, Google DeepMind introduced Gemini Robotics, a suite of AI models aimed at equipping robots with enhanced accuracy and dexterity for handling intricate tasks.
Groot N1’s Dual-System Architecture
A video shared on Nvidia’s official YouTube channel describes Groot N1 as having a “dual-system architecture” inspired by human cognition, enabling it to process information in two distinct ways—“thinking fast and slow.”
According to Nvidia, the slow-thinking system allows humanoid robots to develop perception and reasoning skills, enabling them to assess situations and determine the appropriate actions. Meanwhile, the fast-thinking system is designed to convert planned decisions into precise robotic movements, such as manipulating objects through multi-step processes.
A Key Milestone in Project Groot
Groot N1 is the culmination of Project Groot, an initiative Nvidia first revealed at GTC 2024. With the release of this model, the company aims to accelerate the development of intelligent, general-purpose humanoid robots, marking a significant step forward in AI-powered robotics.
