MIPS and INOVA Collaborate to put Physical AI into the palm of Robotic hands with new Reference Platform

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mar 9, 2026--

MIPS, a GlobalFoundries company, announced today a collaboration with Inova Semiconductors GmbH, to deliver a robotics control reference platform for advanced humanoids and physical AI edge platforms. Building on the strengths of Inova’s Automotive expertise in zonal architectures, the platform will enable mixed-criticality compute featuring real-time control loops and secure AI workloads, manufactured on GlobalFoundries (GF) FDX platform to deliver high quality, leading performance, and ultra-low power operation.

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“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,” said Sameer Wasson, MIPS CEO. “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 advanced robotic arm reference platform combines the expertise of INOVA, MIPS, and GlobalFoundries to build an advanced Physical AI building block that aggregates data interfaces and enables multiple network topologies, driving fast development cycles for real-time high-performance multi-axis motion control. These features are enabled through INOVA’s innovative APXpress high-speed interface and MIPS Atlas M8500 RISC-V high-performance microcontroller processor IP, MIPS Atlas S8200 RISC-V AI processor IP, and MIPS Atlas mixed signal technologies combined with GF’s FDX® process technology to deliver ultra-low power. The platform is a custom SoC for robotics workloads and other Physical AI applications that require mission critical capabilities, on-device secure AI, security, and highly efficient performance.

“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,” said 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.”

Early access to the platform is facilitated by MIPS Atlas Explorer, a simulation-based hardware/software co-design platform. This grants software developers access to virtual representations of the compute elements to start optimization of vision language action models preparing the foundational model for the robotics control reference architecture.

For more information on the INOVA APXpress data interconnect technology, visit the website, here. To learn more about MIPS portfolio of tools, software and IP for Physical AI, contact us. MIPS and GlobalFoundries are exhibiting at Embedded World 2026 in Nuremburg, Germany, from March 10 th to 12 th.

About MIPS

MIPS, a GlobalFoundries company, develops tools, software, and compute required for building autonomous edge computing platforms. With over 40 years of history in computing innovation and mission critical platforms, MIPS is uniquely positioned to advance the adoption of Physical AI in transportation, robotics, and other embedded markets. MIPS technology is based on the open RISC-V instruction set architecture and uses a modular, standards-based approach to build workload-focused solutions. For more information, visit MIPS.com.

About Inova Semiconductors

Inova Semiconductors GmbH is a fabless semiconductor company based in Munich. Founded in 1999, the company develops high-speed serial data communication for the automotive sector (APIX®/APXpress). Inova is also known for its SMART LED technology (ISELED®) and network connection technology for SMART LEDs and sensors (ILAS®). Under the name APXpress, the company has developed a novel high-speed data backbone for zonal architectures and software-defined vehicles. It supports up to 500 independent data channels at speeds of up to 32 Gbps with minimal latency.

Inova Semiconductors' products are manufactured by leading semiconductor manufacturers such as GlobalFoundries. For more information, visit inova-semiconductors.de.

MIPS and INOVA Collaborate to put Physical AI into the palm of Robotic hands with new Reference Platform

DENVER (AP) — A Frontier Airlines plane hit and killed a pedestrian on the runway of the Denver International Airport during takeoff, airport authorities said, sparking an engine fire and forcing passengers to evacuate.

The plane, on route from Denver to Los Angeles International Airport, “reported striking a pedestrian during takeoff at DEN at approximately 11:19 p.m. on Friday," the airport's official X account wrote.

A spokesperson for the airport said the pedestrian, who jumped a perimeter fence, has died. They said the unidentified person was hit two minutes after entering the airport. The person is not believed to be an airport employee.

“We're stopping on the runway,” the pilot tells the control tower according to the site ATC.com. “We just hit somebody. We have an engine fire.”

The pilot tells the air traffic controller they have “231 souls” on board and that an “individual was walking across the runway.”

The air traffic controller responds that they are “rolling the trucks now" before the pilot tells the tower they “have smoke in the aircraft. We are going to evacuate on the runway.”

Frontier Airlines said in a statement flight 4345 was the one involved in the collision and that “smoke was reported in the cabin and the pilots aborted takeoff.” It was not clear whether the smoke was linked to the crash with the pedestrian.

“The Airbus A321 was carrying 224 passengers and seven crew members,” the airline said. “We are investigating this incident and gathering more information in coordination with the airport and other safety authorities.”

Passengers were then evacuated via slides and the emergency crew bused them to the terminal. The airport spokesperson said 12 passengers suffered minor injuries and five were taken to local hospitals.

Denver Airport said the National Transportation Safety Board had been notified and that runway 17L, where the incident took place, will remain closed while an investigation is conducted. It is expected to open later today.

The pedestrian death came a day after a Delta Air Lines employee was killed while on the job at the Orlando International Airport. In a statement, the airline said the employee was killed Thursday night without providing details of the incident nor the name of the employee.

“We are focused on extending our full support to family and taking care of our Orlando team during this difficult time,” the airline said. "We are working with local authorities as a full investigation gets underway to determine what occurred.”

FILE - A Frontier Airlines jetliner taxis down a runway for take off from Denver International airport on Nov. 25, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)