Neura Robotics taps Qualcomm chips to advance physical AI

German robotics startup Neura Robotics has partnered with semiconductor giant Qualcomm to build the next generation of robots and physical AI—which refers to artificial intelligence applied to physical robots. Announced on Monday, the collaboration will see Neura use Qualcomm’s Dragonwing Robotics IQ10 processors as reference designs in its robots. The IQ10 series is designed to work with autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) and humanoid robots, serving as a foundational hardware component as the companies attempt to build cognitive and physical systems for general-purpose robots.

As part of the technical integration, Neura plans to use its Neuraverse robotic simulation and training platform, which was released in June 2025, to test and fine-tune the robots running on Qualcomm’s IQ10 processors. This hardware-focused alliance highlights a broader industry trend of robotics developers aligning with major technology providers. For example, Boston Dynamics partnered with Google DeepMind in January to speed up the development of its Atlas humanoid robot. However, while the Boston Dynamics deal focuses on integrating AI foundational models, the Neura and Qualcomm partnership centers on specialized silicon. Through this arrangement, Neura can build and test robots designed specifically for the chips they run on, while Qualcomm gains direct insight into how robotics companies utilize its processors.

The collaboration aims to address the scalability challenges of deploying physical AI in real-world environments. According to David Reger, CEO and founder of Neura Robotics, the partnership represents a major step toward making physical AI open, scalable, and trusted. “By bringing together our cognitive robotics platforms and the Neuraverse ecosystem with Qualcomm Technologies’ leadership in edge AI and connectivity, we’re aiming to accelerate a future where cognitive robots operate safely alongside humans across industries and throughout everyday life,” Reger said. As major AI companies like Nvidia look to physical AI as a major market, more partnerships between robotics startups and hardware giants are expected.

Why it matters

The partnership highlights a growing trend where robotics startups collaborate with hardware giants to embed specialized processors, aiming to accelerate market deployment and overcome technical hurdles.