Episode 164: Accelerating robot learning - Michelle Lu

Robot Talk · 2 Oct 2026 · 29m · Episode 164

What this episode covers

Michelle Lu, co-founder and CEO of Vsim Technology, explains how her company uses GPU-accelerated physics simulation to accelerate robot learning and close the sim-to-real gap. Previously at NVIDIA creating Isaac Gym, Lu details how Vsim overcomes the scalability and performance limitations of traditional CPU-based reinforcement learning frameworks. The discussion highlights specific challenges in simulating tactile sensors, deformable objects, and tendon systems for the ARIA Robot Dexterity program, aiming to enable complex dexterous manipulation tasks.

Mentioned

Companies
Vsim Technology, NVIDIA, ARIA, Open AI, Bristol Robotics Laboratory
Products
Isaac Gym, Shadow Hand, OptaTactile

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