At NVIDIA, Popcorn Delivery Robot Bears Kernel of Innovation

At NVIDIA, the robots are being taught to weave their way through the workplace. It helps that, as Ankhit, an NVIDIA Linux systems administrator discovered, they come bearing popcorn. Moments after placing an order, via Slack, a stubby, wheeled robot known as Carter arrived at Ankhit’s cubicle bearing a brown paper bag stuffed with popcorn just the way he likes it: “salted, no butter,” Ankhit says with a grin before popping a handful into his mouth. While Carter’s been a hit since the stout robot — an internal project at NVIDIA —  began fetching fresh popcorn for its colleagues this year, the real scoop has nothing to do with snacks.