Runway takes video training into robot trials with Praxis-1
Runway introduced Praxis-1, a robot-control model built on large-scale video pretraining, and began testing it with selected hardware partners. The trials span a two-arm setup, a robot arm and a mobile base. Public open weights are planned for the coming months, after effectiveness and safety checks across hardware and environments.
Artificial Intelligence··Evening
Praxis-1 takes video pretraining into robot control
Runway introduced Praxis-1 on September 30 and is testing the robot-control model with selected hardware partners. The company, known for video-generation models, built this first world-action model around large-scale video pretraining. A public open-weight release is planned for the coming months. Access currently remains a partner trial.[1], [2]
Runway describes scarce and expensive real-world robot data as a constraint on training. Its approach learns physical relationships, object behavior and intermediate task states from video taken by an outside observer. Solaris and GWM Worlds 2, earlier Runway video-model projects, form part of that research direction.[1]
Partners test the model on different robot bodies
Early partners Noble Machines, Standard Bots and Ultra use different hardware. The demonstrations include Noble Machines’ two-arm manipulation setup, Standard Bots’ RO1 robot arm with six degrees of freedom, and Ultra’s mobile base. One example follows a robot approaching a shelf, checking its position and removing a book. Other demonstrations concern selecting among similar objects, cluttered tableware, transparent materials and deformable cloth.[1]
Safety and effectiveness checks precede general access
Runway also demonstrates one control policy moving from a studio to a kitchen without retraining; a policy specifies the actions a robot takes. These are company demonstrations. The partner phase is intended to assess effectiveness and safety across hardware and environments before general availability. Additional organizations can contact Runway’s robotics team for pre-launch access. The planned open weights are intended to give hardware developers greater adaptability and interoperability.[1]
