by Gary Mintchell | Mar 9, 2026 | Generative AI, Robots, Software
I walked into my local Starbucks this morning for my usual Doppio Espresso with cinnamon powder. I told my barista I was about to listen to a press conference on “physical AI.” “What do you think that is?” I asked her. “I don’t know. Maybe something like robots?” she countered. She saved me doing a deep dive with my buddy Claude.
The press conference was with ABB Robotics and NVIDIA announcing an expansion (for a fee) of ABB’s RobotStudio software to incorporate AI models establishing a new product called RobotStudio HyperReality coming to a computer near you in a few months.
- ABB Robotics integrates NVIDIA Omniverse libraries into RobotStudio to deliver physical AI for industry, closing the gap from virtual training to real-world deployment with up to 99% accuracy
- New RobotStudio HyperReality, available second half of 2026, will fundamentally change how quickly and reliably manufacturers can scale production, reducing costs by up to 40% and accelerating time-to-market by 50%
- Full range and breadth of industrial applications, with real-world pilot being conducted by Foxconn in consumer electronics assembly
- At NVIDIA GTC, the robotic workforce company WORKR will showcase how it’s using the solution to help manufacturers across the U.S. address critical labor shortages
The collaboration focuses on combining ABB Robotics’ software programming, design and simulation suite, RobotStudio, with the physically accurate simulation power of NVIDIA Omniverse libraries to close technology’s long-standing ‘sim-to-real’ gap. Developers can simulate robots in digital twins and generate synthetic data to train their physical AI models, enabling businesses of all types and sizes to deploy AI-driven robotics for various industrial workflows.
Called RobotStudio HyperReality, the resulting physically accurate simulations and foundation models are endlessly optimized with real-world data feedback continuously improving the system. These models can be used to train any number of ABB robots, anywhere in the world, with the reliability and accuracy demanded by industry.
The long-standing deficit between simulation accuracy and real-world lighting, materials and environments is known as the ‘sim-to-real’ gap. For decades, this gap has limited the ability of manufacturers to design and develop advanced manufacturing processes in the virtual world.
By integrating NVIDIA Omniverse libraries into RobotStudio, ABB Robotics will deliver unprecedented robotics simulation and synthetic data generation capabilities that will allow intelligent robots to bridge this gap with up to 99 percent accuracy. ABB is the only robot manufacturer with a virtual controller running the same firmware as the hardware, ensuring near perfect correlation between simulation and real world performance. Combined with ABB Robotics’ Absolute Accuracy technology, which reduces positioning errors from 8–15 mm to around 0.5 mm, ABB delivers unmatched precision in both virtual and physical environments, making it suited to high-precision industrial-grade applications.
ABB Robotics is also assessing the potential to integrate the NVIDIA Jetson edge computing plat-form into its Omnicore controller to achieve real-time AI inference at the edge for its extensive robot portfolio. Today’s announcement builds upon ABB Robotics’ long-standing work with NVIDIA, including the previous integration of NVIDIA Jetson into ABB Robotics’ VSLAM autonomous mobile robots as well as the development of gigawatt-scale AI data centers.
RobotStudio HyperReality will serve industrial clients at any scale, across a breadth of industries and applications, with select customers already testing its capabilities ahead of a full release to ABB Robotics’ 60,000 RobotStudio customers worldwide in the second half of 2026.
Foxconn, the world’s largest electronics contract manufacturer, is piloting the first joint use case in consumer electronics assembly. Automating the assembly of a tiny piece in consumer electronics is challenging, as multiple device variants require different production methods and the delicate metal structure requires precise pick-and-place and assembly control, as well as fine-tuned setup, often demanding additional debugging time and engineering resources. Using RobotStudio HyperReality, Foxconn’s assembly robots are trained virtually, using synthetic data to perfect multiple real-world production processes in various scenarios, before moving them to the production line with 99 percent accuracy. By optimizing production lines virtually, Foxconn will reduce set-up times and costs by eliminating physical training and tests, and accelerate time-to-market for consumer electronics.
WORKR, a California based robotic workforce company that delivers robotic manufacturing solu-tions to industry, is extending the reach of this technology to small and medium manufacturers across the United States. At NVIDIA GTC 2026 (March 16-19, San Jose, CA), WORKR will demonstrate AI- powered robotic systems built on ABB technology, trained with synthetic data using NVIDIA Omniverse libraries, and deployed without operators needing to know any program-ming. By combining ABB’s industrial grade robotics with its proprietary WorkrCore™ AI platform, the company is helping manufacturers address critical labor shortages with its robotic workforce that can learn new tasks in minutes and be operated by anyone.
by Gary Mintchell | Mar 6, 2026 | Process Control
I recently published some thoughts on Overthinking on another of my websites. It fits my thoughts on the Schneider Electric/Foxboro announcements on an “open controller.”
Elias Panasuik, Schneider Electric Sr. Director of Offer Enablement, talked with me yesterday to answer my many questions about this news.
Turns out that Foxboro SDA is essentially a new DCS. Rather than integrated into a traditional tightly integrated hardware/software solution, SDA decouples the software from hardware. This affords a user the ability to find available compute to target the application. The solution can coexist with older systems while enabling engineers to extend into a new process at the plant. What I find interesting is what underlies the thinking—this utilizes a lot of the best thinking from the IT realm used in a distinctly OT environment.
Panasuik told of customers looking for recent computer science grads to fill part of the process control function. The teams should be composed of both chemical engineers and computer science engineers—these latter conversant with things like Python and scripting and security and the like.
Developed by listening to real customer challenges; aging systems, rising costs, and the need to do more with less, Foxboro SDA decouples hardware from software to protect existing investments and enable a smooth, lower-risk modernization path. The result is simpler workflows, faster insights, and sustainable performance gains.
Key Features
• Open, Software-Defined Architecture: Foxboro SDA decouples software from hardware to deliver vendor independence and interoperability, enabling flexible, scalable architectures that simplify
• Cybersecure & Future-Ready: Foxboro SDA is built with secure-by-design principles and IEC 62443-3-3 compliance, delivering a future-ready platform that enables IT/OT convergence, AI/ML integration, and autonomous operations for Industry 4.0 and energy transition.
• Simplify Operations & Reduce Costs: Customers can lower CapEx and OpEx, streamline deployment with intuitive tools, and minimizes downtime by avoiding obsolescence and enabling predictive maintenance.
As the first software-defined distributed control system, Foxboro SDA is a validated, software-defined automation architecture for distributed control systems powered by EcoStruxure Automation Expert (EAE). It enables interoperability, rapid deployment, and fit-for-purpose configurations while maintaining high availability. The system ensures digital continuity by keeping data connected and consistent throughout the plant lifecycle—from design to production to maintenance. This enables automated workflows, better product quality, and easy integration with analytics for smarter, real-time business decisions.
Customers benefit from a future-ready upgrade path, built-in cybersecurity, and simplified operations that support IT/OT convergence and advanced technologies like AI and machine learning. Foxboro SDA provides our customers with a control solution that is unbound by hardware, engineered for agility and empowered by data. It’s more than a system – Foxboro SDA is a strategic enabler for digital transformation.
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by Gary Mintchell | Mar 4, 2026 | Automation, Process Control
I’ve written a couple of news items about ABB and Schneider Electric releasing solutions to ease migration. Both releases left much to the imagination. Schneider is talking with me this week to (hopefully) explain some details behind the news.
Meanwhile, I spotted this article “Hunting the Elusive Snipe” at Control Global by my old process control mentor John Rezabek.
Check it out. It’s a coherent plea for ideas such as from the Open Process Automation Forum to ease a problem with loss of legacy DCS upgrades. What do you think?
by Gary Mintchell | Mar 3, 2026 | Generative AI, News
Deepgram continues to release news about extending its VoiceAI into new areas. Today’s news concerns collaboration with IBM. As with almost all new technologies, I see the potential uses but also see things I don’t care for. Voice AI (speech-to-text (STT) and text-to-speech (TTS)) has many uses, but I become annoyed when talking to customer service only to discover I’m talking with a computer with limited resources for help rather than a human. I guess that’s the future.
IBM and Deepgram announced a collaboration to integrate Deepgram’s speech-to-text (STT) and text-to-speech (TTS) capabilities into IBM’s watsonx Orchestrate generative AI solution.
To address client needs for highly performant, enterprise-grade transcription and real-time captioning, IBM will embed Deepgram’s capabilities into watsonx Orchestrate. This collaboration makes Deepgram IBM’s first voice partner, bringing voice AI technology that helps enterprises automate their operations and meet the growing demand for conversational AI technology, including advanced speech-to-text voice recognition so users can interact with digital agents using natural speech.
Many organizations are adopting AI-powered speech-to-text systems to automate transcription while handling real-world audio conditions, including background noise, diverse accents, and real-life dialog. This integration addresses these challenges by offering a wider range of languages and dialects, including dozens of Arabic and Indian variants, along with voices that reflect regional accents. It also adds options for custom tuning, real-time captioning and natural-sounding speech.
These technologies open new possibilities for enhanced automated customer care and support, call analysis, and voice-driven data entry in fields like healthcare and finance.
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by Gary Mintchell | Mar 3, 2026 | Business, News
Some years ago, Hexagon went on an acquisition spree forming an organization composed of many disparate parts. I’ve attended a couple user conferences often trying to figure out where everything is.
Last year they announced a restructuring that spins off a chunk of the company. Here is the story from a message I received.
We step forward with a new identity and a powerful story to share.
As Hexagon AB prepares for the potential spin-off of its Asset Lifecycle Intelligence and Safety, Infrastructure & Geospatial divisions, as well as ETQ, Bricsys and Projectmates, we are ready to introduce our new brand.
Octave was built to unleash intelligence at scale, harnessing data to transform what’s possible for customers around the world.
This is more than a new name. It’s a bold signal of who we are, and how our solutions and team can champion your business.
Expertise. Clarity. Intelligence. All tuned to cut through complexity and optimize performance – at any scope or scale. We’re looking forward to what’s next, and we’re glad you’re a part of it.
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