Physical AI Topic Announcement

NSF-Topic3-FY26-XLabsPhysicalAI

AI FOR PHYSICAL SYSTEMS

TOPIC ANNOUNCEMENT FOR THE NSF X-LABS INITIATIVE

1.0 Purpose:

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (TIP) announces its intent to solicit Written Proposals for NSF X-Labs teams in the technical domain of physical AI. This NSF X-Labs announcement is issued under the Other Transactions Agreement Solutions Offering (OTASO), NSF-OTASO-FY26-XLabsInitiative.

2.0 The NSF X-Labs Initiative:

NSF X-Labs represent a bold, flexible, and outcomes-driven initiative designed to build and accelerate novel platform technologies capable of unlocking entirely new sectors, including new fields of scientific inquiry. The program will support full-time research and development (R&D) teams focused on use-inspired scientific breakthroughs and foundational platform technologies that traditional university and industry labs cannot easily address. NSF X-Labs teams will benefit from ambitious R&D goals, operational autonomy, milestone-based funding, and the ability to engage across academia, industry, national laboratories, and nonprofit sectors. NSF X-Labs will bet on ambitious, full-time teams working with urgency and purpose, and provide them with the structure, resources, and flexibility necessary to cultivate early-stage platform technologies that will accelerate breakthroughs and unlock entirely new sectors of the economy. See Section 3 of NSF-OTASO-FY26-XLabsInitiative or the latest amendment issued for information on the NSF X-Labs initiative’s strategic objectives.

2.1 NSF X-Labs Topics and Missions

NSF will release specific Topic areas under the NSF X-Labs initiative via Topic Announcements. Topics will center on fields of research where breakthroughs could create or reshape entire scientific fields and technology sectors where U.S. competitiveness is a priority. Proposing teams will specify their Mission, defined as the novel platform technology and key use-inspired research solutions that the proposed NSF X-Lab is uniquely suited to tackle. Missions must align with a current Topic Announcement released by NSF. Proposing teams should have a clear vision of how their Mission will result in an end-state that creates or reshapes an entire field of scientific research or sector of technology, and how their Mission is currently unmet by existing organizational structures and funding mechanisms.

3.0 Topic Description:

Decades of progress in AI algorithms, robotics, sensing, and embedded computing, combined