On July 7, Paris will host the inaugural edition of MACHINA, a new summit entirely dedicated to Physical AI. Held at Station F, one day before the RAISE Summit, the event reflects a growing conviction shared across the industry: the next technological revolution will be driven by intelligent machines, not just intelligent software.

The organizers have assembled one of the strongest speaker lineups ever seen in Europe for a robotics-focused event.

Among the first confirmed speakers are Jim Fan, Director at NVIDIA and one of the world’s leading voices on Physical AI; Marc Raibert, founder of Boston Dynamics and now Executive Director of the RAI Institute; Carolina Parada, Head of Robotics at Google DeepMind; Jeff Cardenas, Co-founder and CEO of Apptronik; Bernt Børnich, Founder and CEO of 1X; Jonathan Hurst, Co-founder of Agility Robotics; David Reger, Founder and CEO of NEURA Robotics; Abhinav Gupta, President and Co-founder of Skild AI; Thomas Wolf, Co-founder and Chief Science Officer of Hugging Face; Laura Modiano, Head of Founder Experience at OpenAI; and Dr. Péter Fankhauser, CEO of ANYbotics.

After generative AI transformed the
digital world, Physical AI is set to transform
the physical one.

Bringing together pioneers from NVIDIA, Google DeepMind, Boston Dynamics, Hugging Face, OpenAI, Apptronik, Agility Robotics, 1X, NEURA Robotics and ANYbotics under one roof sends a clear message: Physical AI is no longer an emerging niche. It is becoming one of the fastest-moving sectors in artificial intelligence.

The timing could hardly be better. Around the world, investment in robotics is accelerating as breakthroughs in foundation models, computer vision, simulation and digital twins allow robots to perform increasingly complex tasks. The race is no longer about building better machines alone, but about giving those machines the intelligence to understand and interact with their environment.

For Europe, MACHINA also carries strategic significance. While the United States has companies such as Apptronik, Agility Robotics and Boston Dynamics, and Asia continues to dominate industrial robotics manufacturing, Europe is seeking to establish itself as a leader in embodied intelligence. The presence of companies such as NEURA Robotics, ANYbotics and major European industrial groups illustrates that ambition.

Unlike traditional robotics exhibitions, MACHINA is designed around ideas rather than products. The discussions are expected to focus on the technologies that will define the next decade of robotics: foundation models for robots, simulation, digital twins, AI infrastructure, autonomous systems, safety, industrial deployment and human-robot collaboration.

The global race is no longer about building
better robots alone it is about giving those
robots the intelligence to understand and interact
with the real world.

The event also reflects a broader shift in the AI industry. For the past three years, the conversation has revolved around chatbots and generative models. Increasingly, however, the industry’s biggest players including NVIDIA, Google DeepMind and OpenAI are investing in AI that can operate beyond the digital world.

The objective is no longer simply to answer questions, but to enable machines to understand, move and work alongside humans.

Whether MACHINA becomes Europe’s equivalent of NVIDIA GTC for robotics remains to be seen.

But its inaugural edition has already succeeded in attracting many of the people shaping the future of intelligent machines.

Robot Magazine will follow MACHINA closely, bringing readers the latest developments from one of the most anticipated Physical AI events of the year.

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Cet article MACHINA 2026: Can Paris Become Europe’s Capital of Physical AI ? est apparu en premier sur Robot Magazine.

For several years, industrial robotics has been experiencing unprecedented acceleration. Artificial intelligence is no longer limited to analyzing data or generating text: it now controls machines capable of perceiving their environment, making real-time decisions, and interacting directly with human beings.

This evolution, often described as “physical AI,” is paving the way for a new generation of industrial robots, autonomous mobile robots, and humanoid robots.

But this transformation also comes with a major challenge. The more autonomous robots become, the greater the safety requirements. Unlike traditional robots enclosed behind protective barriers, these new machines will operate directly alongside workers, share the same workspaces, and collaborate with them on daily tasks.

In this context, safety is becoming a strategic issue just as important as computing power or algorithmic performance.

It is precisely to address this challenge that NVIDIA unveiled Halos for Robotics, presented as the first complete safety system designed for robots powered by physical artificial intelligence.

As robots become increasingly autonomous,
safety is becoming the true technological
frontier of physical artificial intelligence.

The announcement, made during Automate 2026 in Chicago, confirms the American tech giant’s ambition to become not only the global leader in AI platforms, but also one of the key players in robotic safety. This initiative could profoundly change the way manufacturers design future generations of robots and accelerate their deployment across industry.

When robots leave their protective cages

For several decades, industrial robot safety was based on a simple principle: keeping humans away from machines. Robots were installed in closed cells, surrounded by fences, optical barriers, and emergency stop systems. This approach was suited to robotics mainly dedicated to repetitive tasks such as welding, painting, or heavy material handling.

Today, the situation is changing rapidly. Manufacturers are looking for robots capable of working directly with operators in order to improve production line flexibility. Mobile robots transport components between different workshops, cobots assist technicians in their daily tasks, and humanoid robots are beginning to perform order preparation, handling, and quality control operations.

However, this proximity creates new risks. Robots must be able to detect an operator crossing their path, anticipate their movements, recognize unexpected objects, and adapt their behavior within milliseconds. Traditional safety methods are therefore reaching their limits. Manufacturers no longer simply want robots to stop when danger appears; they want them to be capable of avoiding dangerous situations before they even occur.

According to several analyst firms, the global industrial robotics market is expected to exceed $80 billion by the end of the decade, driven in particular by the rise of smart factories, automated warehouses, and humanoid robotics. However, this growth can only continue if trust in these systems progresses at the same pace as their performance.

The rise of humanoid robots is profoundly
transforming the certification requirements
for robotic systems.

Halos: a safety platform designed from the ground up

With Halos for Robotics, NVIDIA is proposing a radically different approach. Rather than treating safety as an additional layer added at the end of development, the company integrates it directly into the entire robotic architecture.

The platform covers the full technological chain. It takes into account computing hardware, specialized processors, sensors, safety software, artificial intelligence models, simulation tools, and the validation processes required for the certification of robotic systems.

This “full-stack” vision is one of the project’s main innovations. The different components communicate with each other to provide continuous monitoring of the robot’s operation and its environment. If an anomaly is detected, the system can immediately take the appropriate measures while maintaining a high level of operational availability.

NVIDIA also explains that Halos builds on development methods used for several years in the field of autonomous vehicles. Validation procedures, risk analyses, and software tools developed for self-driving cars are now being adapted to the specific needs of industrial robotics. The company says this expertise represents more than 18,600 cumulative years of engineering work dedicated to functional safety.

This reuse of already proven technologies makes it possible to accelerate the market launch of robots that meet future regulatory requirements, while limiting development costs for manufacturers.

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