The World Model Planning Accelerator (WMPA): Hardware-Algorithm Co-Design for Embedded AI in Robotics

arXiv:2611.10316v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Embedded AI is moving from perception to prediction. Robots now use world models$\unicode{x2014}$learned simulators that predict the outcome of candidate actions in a compressed latent space before any is executed. Every predicted step must be computed on board within a tight power and thermal budget, yet the energy these steps fundamentally require, and how far real hardware sits from it, have not been characterized. We derive lower bounds on the arithmetic operations and the CMOS dynamic energy of a latent state transition from information theory and Boolean circuit complexity.