Humanoid Robots to Show Autonomy in Austin
Nvidia's Jim Fan presents the CoRL 2026 keynote in Austin on November 9, 2026, to show the robots' full range of tasks.
Updated on Nov. 7, 2026 in Robotics
Austin robotics watchers get a preview of what Nvidia's humanoid robot effort looks like in practice: Jim Fan, co-lead of Nvidia's Project GR00T, has teased a November 9, 2026 keynote at the Conference on Robot Learning (CoRL) in Austin, Texas. The teaser shows real humanoid hardware running autonomously at normal speed rather than under remote control.
Why it matters
For a city that hosts a growing robotics and tech crowd, the appeal of a keynote like this is seeing whether general-purpose humanoid robots are moving from lab demos toward machines that can work on their own. Whether those claims hold up in front of researchers in town is still an open question until the talk happens.
The teaser comes from Nvidia's Project GR00T, which uses a 2B-parameter GR00T N1 model and claims to expand limited teleoperation data by over 1,000x through simulation and generative world models. Those figures come from the project's own description, and independent verification of the performance claims is still pending the November 9, 2026 keynote.
The players
Nvidia
The chipmaker behind Project GR00T, its effort to build foundation models for humanoid robots.
Jim Fan
Nvidia researcher who co-leads Project GR00T and is giving the CoRL 2026 keynote.
Conference on Robot Learning (CoRL)
The robot learning research conference where the keynote will be delivered in Austin.
The details
Jim Fan confirmed that his CoRL 2026 keynote teaser features real humanoid hardware operating autonomously at normal speed rather than under teleoperation. The approach builds on Project GR00T, Nvidia's effort to create foundation models for humanoid robots, which uses platforms such as Isaac Lab and Cosmos along with teleoperation methods and large-scale synthetic data. The keynote is scheduled for November 9, 2026, in Austin, and is expected to show the range of tasks the robots handle and describe how the training pipeline works.
Timeline
March 2025: Nvidia introduced the open-weight GR00T N1 model.
2025: Follow-up versions N1.5 and N1.6 were expected to roll out.
November 9, 2026: Jim Fan's CoRL 2026 keynote in Austin.
The Texas Context
The keynote extends Nvidia's Project GR00T, which introduced the open-weight GR00T N1 model in March 2025 and is now expected to build on follow-up versions N1.5 and N1.6. Bringing the talk to Austin puts a major humanoid robotics presentation in the city's growing tech community.
If you work in or follow robotics in Austin, the November 9 keynote is the place to see how autonomous humanoid hardware is being trained and what it can do. Check the CoRL 2026 schedule if you want to attend in person.
The takeaway
Treat the teaser as a preview rather than a result: the claim of autonomous operation at normal speed will be tested when the keynote shows the full range of tasks. Watch the November 9, 2026 keynote in Austin for that evidence.
What happens next
Jim Fan's CoRL 2026 keynote takes place November 9, 2026, in Austin, where the range of tasks and the training pipeline are expected to be shown.
Further reading
For more on the machines behind this teaser, explore the latest Robotics coverage.
