ABB and NVIDIA are collaborating to bring physical AI simulation to the world of factory automation, with the goal of overcoming the difficulties encountered in implementing intelligent robotics outside of testing environments.

RobotStudio HyperReality

The solution, called RobotStudio HyperReality and scheduled for release in the second half of 2026, integrates NVIDIA Omniverse libraries into ABB's RobotStudio software, creating a physically accurate digital testing environment. This allows engineers to design, test, and validate complete automation cells virtually, reducing deployment costs by up to 40% and accelerating time-to-market by 50%.

The system exports a fully parameterized station, including robots, sensors, lighting, and kinematics, as a USD file directly into the Omniverse environment. A virtual controller runs the identical firmware as the physical machine, ensuring a 99% behavioral match between the digital and real worlds.

Validation and early adopters

Foxconn is testing the software for consumer device assembly, a complex area due to frequent product changes and the delicacy of metal components. Workr, an automation provider, integrates its WorkrCore platform with ABB hardware trained via Omniverse, with the goal of integrating new components in minutes without requiring specialized programming skills.

Adopting this digital-first simulation can reduce setup and commissioning times by up to 80%. ABB is evaluating the integration of NVIDIA's Jetson edge platform into its Omnicore controllers to facilitate real-time inference on existing robotic fleets. For those evaluating on-premise deployments, there are trade-offs to consider. AI-RADAR offers analytical frameworks on /llm-onpremise for evaluation.