OpenAI's GPT-6 Astra is shockingly good at controlling robots
binarybits · x · 2026-10-02
- OpenAI's first GPT-6 model, Astra (released Sept 3), showed a major leap in spatial reasoning — including FreeCAD 3D modeling demos of houses, circuit boards, and a car transmission.
- That skill transfers directly to robotics: OpenAI robotics employee Thijs Simonian hooked Astra up to a cheap robot arm and had it paint the Golden Gate Bridge from a reference image, with astonishing results after five iterations.
- Since release, demos of Astra picking and placing blocks, slicing cucumbers, solving a Rubik's Cube in simulation, and driving a car in a parking lot have proliferated; Astra briefly topped the RoboDojo Benchmark for robot control.
- Kai Williams launches the newsletter Understanding Robots with this piece exploring whether general-purpose LLMs will control robots in the future.
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