92% of manufacturers surveyed by Industry Week say automation is critical for long-term success. Yet the path forward is no longer about simply adding robots. Labor shortages, rapidly shifting product cycles, and rising quality expectations demand automation systems that can learn, adapt, and operate safely alongside people.
More critically, manufacturers must solve the long tail of automation: unstructured tasks that have historically required human workers and remained out of reach for traditional systems. This needs real-time edge intelligence, validated deployment through physics-accurate simulation, and manufacturing platforms that can evolve quickly without training and programming.
These are the challenges NVIDIA and Vention are solving together.
At Demo Day 2025, Amit Goel, Head of Robotics and Edge Computing at NVIDIA, highlighted why this collaboration marks a new phase in industrial automation.
“NVIDIA builds the technology that enables robotics developers to bring accelerated computing and bring AI into their products,” Goel said. “We have been working with Vention to integrate NVIDIA’s computers and accelerated libraries to realize applications in robotics which are faster, smarter, and accessible.”
Intelligence at the Edge with NVIDIA Jetson
Tasks like bin-picking, material handling, and kitting have long resisted automation because they’re inherently unstructured, requiring human-like perception, dexterity, and real-time judgment. While traditional systems handle repetitive motions with ease, they falter when confronted with variability and unpredictability.
Now by combining Vention’s next-generation MachineMotionAI controller with NVIDIA Jetson, accelerated libraries and AI foundation models, these tasks are finally within the scope of cost-effective automation.
“Combined with MachineMotion AI, NVIDIA Jetson is bringing accelerated computing right at the edge where you can have the robots perceive, plan, and act with intelligence,” Goel explained.
This edge-first architecture is crucial as factories adopt higher-mix workflows, and AI-guided cells that must react to changing parts, and environment conditions in real time.
Simulation and Synthetic Data for Manufacturing
One of the most challenging problems in robotics is getting enough data to train the AI. Running every possible test scenario on an actual production line isn’t efficient. That’s where physics-based simulation and synthetic data become game-changers.
“Simulation is helping to create synthetic data which is required for training of the large AI models,” Goel said. “So the robot can in real time sense, perceive, and plan its actions to deliver the throughput with the performance and accuracy that is expected of industrial applications.”
With NVIDIA’s AI models, manufacturers don’t need to collect training data on-site for their specific parts. The models are pre-trained on vast amounts of synthetic data, making them remarkably robust and adaptable out of the box.
Virtual testing allows manufacturers to refine gripping strategies, reach validation, and cycle times before purchasing equipment. This drastically reduces commissioning risk and shortens time to ROI.
Enabling Agile and Technician-Friendly Automation
Traditional automation requires specialist programmers for every change. That model strains factories that produce varied SKUs or face frequent changeovers. Downtime becomes costlier, and continuous improvement stalls when engineers are not available.
Vention’s MachineMotion AI paired with NVIDIA technology enables technicians to handle fast changeovers without need for specialists as the system adapts quickly to new parts, placements, and environments.
“With Vention’s AI Operator, it is now possible to deploy robotics for these applications that require constant updates, constant changes that have to be more flexible,” Goel noted. “All of these capabilities are now accessible to the technician on the line.”
This marks a fundamental shift from engineering-centric automation to operator-driven automation, a crucial requirement for industry 4.0 production environments.
A Technology Foundation for Flexible Manufacturing
NVIDIA brings deep strength in AI development, while Vention brings practical expertise in deploying automation on the factory floor. Together, they are turning advanced AI capabilities into systems that are ready for real production environments. Intelligence at the edge, simulation-led engineering, and approachable AI programming are now achievable in day-to-day operations. As these capabilities converge, Physical AI moves beyond research settings and becomes a core driver of modern manufacturing.
What was once reserved for highly engineered, fixed systems is now accessible, adaptive, and designed for the realities of modern manufacturing. Demo Day 2025 proved that this future is not theoretical. It is already operating in plants today, and it will only accelerate from here.
“Thanks to the advancements in AI and products like AI Operator, manufacturers are now able to adjust to the new paradigm of agile manufacturing and the changes that are needed,” Goel said.
