Nvidia is collaborating with Disney Research and Google DeepMind to develop Newton, a physics engine to simulate robotic actions in real-world settings, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang introduced at GTC 2025 on Tuesday.
Disney can be among the many first to make use of Newton to energy its next-generation leisure robots, just like the Star Wars-inspired BDX droids — one among which waddled onstage subsequent to Huang throughout his Tuesday keynote.
Nvidia plans to launch an early, open-source model of Newton later in 2025.
For years, Disney has pitched the concept of bringing these Star Wars-inspired robots to its parks world wide. There have been a number of managed demos of the droids, most not too long ago at SXSW 2025. Now — thanks partly to Newton, presumably — Disney feels the tech is prepared, and plans to showcase the robots at a number of theme park places beginning subsequent yr.
In a press launch, Disney Imagineering SVP Kyle Laughlin stated the collaboration with Nvidia and Google DeepMind will play a key position in powering future Disney leisure robots, as nicely.
Newton is meant to assist robots be extra “expressive” and “learn to deal with complicated duties with larger precision,” Nvidia stated. The physics engine is designed to assist builders simulate how robots work together with the pure world, which may typically current a problem for robotics builders.
Nvidia claims that Newton is extremely customizable. For instance, builders can use it to program robotic interactions with meals objects, fabric, sand, and different deformable objects.
Newton can be suitable with Google DeepMind’s ecosystem of robotic growth instruments, together with its physics engine, MuJoCo, which simulates multi-joint robotic actions, Nvidia added.
Newton was one among many bulletins Nvidia made this week to kick off GTC 2025. The firm additionally unveiled an AI basis mannequin for humanoid robots, Groot N1, which the corporate says lets robots higher understand and cause about their environments. In addition, the corporate shared a timeline for its next-gen AI chips, together with Blackwell Ultra and Rubin, and unveiled a brand new line of “private AI computer systems”.
