Initiative founded with a focus on humanoid robots

The market for humanoid robots is developing rapidly. The Yole Group forecasts a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 56 percent to a market volume of over 6 billion US dollars by 2030. With further acceptance expected at the beginning of the next decade, sales could rise to 51 billion US dollars by 2035. "Humanoids are at a turning point. Advances in AI, the evolution of supply chains and the scaling of components mean that humanoid robots are evolving from complex prototypes to deployable systems with measurable ROI for logistics, manufacturing and other high-value industrial applications," says Pierrick Boulay, Principal Analyst Automotive Semiconductor at the Yole Group.

The BoF group of the MIPI Alliance, an international organization that develops specifications for the standardization of wired interfaces for mobile devices and other networked systems, specializes in humanoid systems:

• Analysis and comparison of current hardware and software architectures
• Creation of system diagrams for important application areas
• Identify how MIPI specifications can be utilized or extended to meet market needs.
• Upon completion of its assessment, the group will make a formal recommendation to the MIPI Alliance Board on potential opportunities for specification development.

"Many of today's robotic systems are based on architectures originally developed for mobile, automotive and industrial systems," explains Edo Cohen, Chairman of MIPI's Physical AI BoF Group and Vice Chairman of MIPI's Technical Steering Group. "The industry is increasingly moving towards more efficient, economically viable and marketable designs that focus on energy efficiency, cost optimization and compact designs. This evolution provides an opportunity for MIPI to bridge the gap in standardized PHY, protocol and application interfaces for the physical AI market and introduce an architecture based on MIPI's long-standing expertise and field-proven technologies."

Member companies already participating in the BoF Group include: Amphenol; Binho LLC; BitifEye Digital Test Solutions GmbH; Genesys Logic; Intel Corporation; I-PEX; Kioxia Corporation; Lattice Semiconductor; LG Electronics; MediaTek; Mixel; NXP Semiconductors; Robert Bosch; Rohm; Samsung Electronics; Silvaco; Sony Group Corporation; STMicroelectronics; Synopsys; TDK (InvenSense); Texas Instruments; Unisoc (Shanghai) Technologies; Valens Semiconductor and others.

MIPI is also launching an "Emerging Technologies" initiative to encourage wider participation from industry representatives - both MIPI members and non-members - in exploring new technology markets. The initial focus is on a "Physical AI BoF" and a soon-to-be-launched "Die-to-Die BoF", with additional groups potentially joining later in the year and beyond. Through this initiative, MIPI adopter members and non-member companies will have the opportunity to continue to participate in the activities should the BoF evolve into a working group or the activities are transferred to an existing MIPI working group.