MIPS, a developer of compute technologies for autonomous edge platforms, has partnered with German semiconductor company Inova Semiconductors to create a new robotics control reference platform aimed at accelerating the development of humanoid robots and other physical AI systems.
The platform combines MIPS’ RISC-V-based processors with Inova’s high-speed data communication technology to provide a scalable architecture for robotics applications that require real-time control, AI processing, and secure connectivity.
According to the companies, the platform is designed as a custom system-on-chip (SoC) solution capable of supporting the full “sense-think-act-communicate” chain required for advanced robotic systems.
By integrating sensing, computing, motion control, and communication into a unified architecture, the companies say the design can reduce size, weight, and power requirements while simplifying robotics development.
Sameer Wasson, MIPS CEO, says: “Together with Inova, we’re delivering a Physical AI reference platform that simplifies robot design, reduces BOM cost, and gives builders an open, standards-based path to create whole product families with low latency and functionally safe connectivity.
“Robotics is moving rapidly and the leaders will scale quickly and cost-effectively. By pairing Inova’s high-speed communication links with MIPS’ open RISC-V compute and mixed signal technologies, this scalable reference platform turns ‘sense-think-act-communicate’ into a Physical AI building block that lowers risk, lowers cost, and accelerates time to market.”
The reference platform integrates several technologies, including Inova’s APXpress high-speed data interface and MIPS Atlas processors. The architecture includes the MIPS Atlas M8500 RISC-V high-performance microcontroller processor and the MIPS Atlas S8200 RISC-V AI processor, along with mixed-signal technologies developed by MIPS.
Manufacturing will be based on GlobalFoundries’ FDX process platform, which the companies say enables high performance while maintaining ultra-low power consumption. MIPS is a business unit of GlobalFoundries.
The platform is intended to support complex robotics workloads such as multi-axis motion control, real-time sensing, and on-device AI processing, while also enabling flexible network topologies for robotics systems.
“Advanced humanoids demand secure, deterministic connectivity and a scalable control backbone. Inova together with GF & MIPS, we’re giving robot makers a zonal, RISC-V-based blueprint that cuts complexity and cost to help scale humanoids and advanced robotics from prototype to production faster,” says Robert Isele, CEO at Inova.
“The creation of a reference zonal architecture for advanced robotics will enable simpler and faster creation of humanoid and other robotic form factors.”
To support development, the companies are also providing early access to the platform through MIPS Atlas Explorer, a simulation-based hardware and software co-design environment. The platform allows developers to test and optimize AI models and robotics workloads before hardware becomes available.
MIPS and GlobalFoundries showcased the platform at the recnt Embedded World 2026 in Nuremberg, Germany.
