MACHINA Physical AI Summit Debuts in Paris With NVIDIA, DeepMind, 1X
Europe's first dedicated Physical AI event debuted at Station F in Paris on July 7 with talks from NVIDIA, Google DeepMind, 1X, Apptronik, Boston Dynamics' Marc Raibert and Skild AI, staking a European claim to humanoid manufacturing.
Key Takeaways
MACHINA, Europe's first dedicated Physical AI summit, debuted 7 July 2026 at Station F in Paris, produced by the RAISE Summit team ahead of the 8-9 July RAISE main event at Carrousel du Louvre.
Speakers included Boston Dynamics founder Marc Raibert, NVIDIA's Jim Fan, Google DeepMind robotics head Carolina Parada, 1X CEO Bernt Børnich, Apptronik CEO Jeff Cardenas, Agility Robotics' Jonathan Hurst, Skild AI's Abhinav Gupta and Hugging Face CSO Thomas Wolf.
Paris startup UMA, founded by ex-Tesla Optimus scientist Rémi Cadene, unveiled its Northstar humanoid and Real-Time Learning architecture live on stage as the day's signature launch.
Floor demos featured NVIDIA Jetson Thor-powered stacks, Boston Dynamics Atlas footage from Google DeepMind pilots and 1X's Neo home robot.
The event framed physical AI as a European industrial opportunity — a third pole beyond the US-China humanoid race — citing NEURA Robotics' Series C, UMA's debut and Sunrise Robotics' Copenhagen build; organisers will publish a post-event report on humanoid deployment metrics.
Kaan Tınmaz
Europe's first dedicated Physical AI summit arrived on 7 July 2026 as MACHINA opened at Station F in Paris, produced by the RAISE Summit team ahead of the software-AI RAISE main event. The one-day, one-floor format brought together humanoid, industrial, training and integration tracks with live robot demos — and a very European agenda about who builds the next decade of embodied AI.
Who spoke, and what it signalled
MACHINA's speaker list read as a Who's Who of humanoid robotics. Marc Raibert, founder of Boston Dynamics and now Executive Director of the RAI Institute, opened alongside NVIDIA's Jim Fan, Google DeepMind head of robotics Carolina Parada, 1X CEO Bernt Børnich, Apptronik CEO Jeff Cardenas, Agility Robotics co-founder Jonathan Hurst, Skild AI President Abhinav Gupta, Hugging Face CSO Thomas Wolf, NEURA Robotics CEO David Reger, ANYbotics CEO Péter Fankhauser and Dexterity AI CEO Samir Menon.
Product moments on the floor
The signature launch of the day came from Paris-based UMA, ex-Tesla Optimus scientist Rémi Cadene's stealth startup, which unveiled the design of its Northstar humanoid and its Real-Time Learning architecture live on stage. Live-floor demos included NVIDIA Jetson Thor-powered stacks, Boston Dynamics Atlas footage from Google DeepMind pilots, and 1X's Neo home robot.
Why it matters
MACHINA is the clearest signal yet that Europe intends to build hardware where it has historically only built policy. Speakers repeatedly framed physical AI as a French and European industrial opportunity — pointing at NEURA Robotics' Series C, UMA's stealth debut and Sunrise Robotics' Copenhagen build — and treated the US-China humanoid arms race as a market that still has room for a third pole. The event was Agility Robotics and NVIDIA's first joint stage appearance since Agility's SPAC filing, and the first public keynote for Persona AI CEO Nicolaus Radford.
What comes next
RAISE Summit runs 8-9 July at Carrousel du Louvre with 9,000+ attendees; MACHINA's organisers said this year's edition will publish a post-event industry report on humanoid deployment metrics. Bill Gates, quoted in MACHINA's opening reel, put the timeline in a single sentence: 'the decade ahead will see physical AI move from research labs into homes, factories and hospitals.'
Reporting based on MACHINA Summit programme, keynote transcripts and coverage from RAISE Summit and TechCrunch.
MACHINA is Europe's first dedicated Physical AI event, a one-day, one-floor summit held 7 July 2026 at Station F in Paris, produced by the RAISE Summit team. It combined humanoid, industrial, training and integration tracks with live robot demos.
Who spoke at MACHINA 2026?
Speakers included Marc Raibert (Boston Dynamics founder, RAI Institute), NVIDIA's Jim Fan, Google DeepMind's Carolina Parada, 1X CEO Bernt Børnich, Apptronik CEO Jeff Cardenas, Agility Robotics co-founder Jonathan Hurst, Skild AI President Abhinav Gupta, Hugging Face CSO Thomas Wolf, NEURA Robotics CEO David Reger, ANYbotics CEO Péter Fankhauser and Dexterity AI CEO Samir Menon.
What was the biggest product launch at the event?
Paris-based UMA, the stealth startup of ex-Tesla Optimus scientist Rémi Cadene, unveiled the design of its Northstar humanoid and its Real-Time Learning architecture live on stage.
How does MACHINA relate to the RAISE Summit?
MACHINA was produced by the RAISE Summit team as a precursor to the software-AI-focused RAISE main event, which runs 8-9 July at Carrousel du Louvre in Paris with over 9,000 attendees.
