Nvidia unveils open humanoid robot platform for robotics research - Robotics & Automation News
by Sam Francis Nvidia has announced the Nvidia Isaac GR00T Reference Humanoid Robot, an open humanoid robot platform designed to accelerate research and development in physical AI and general-purpose robotics.
Key takeaways
- Zoomlion’s Z01 humanoid robot drew large crowds at KOMATEK 2026 in Istanbul, where it performed a Tai Chi routine that highlighted the company’s embodied‑AI capabilities and real‑world industrial validation in logistics, inspection and assembly tasks.
- The following day, Nvidia unveiled the Isaac GR00T Reference Humanoid at GTC Taipei, a complete development platform that pairs a Unitree H2 Plus robot with Sharpa’s five‑finger tactile hands and Jetson AGX Thor computing powered by a Blackwell GPU, aimed at accelerating research and slated for commercial availability from Unitree in late 2026.
- At the Robot Technology Japan 2026 exhibition, Agile Robots showcased its Agile ONE humanoid alongside force‑control technology, building on its recent acquisition of thyssenkrupp Automation Engineering and a research partnership with Google DeepMind.
- A CBS 60 Minutes segment aired on June 14, featuring Boston Dynamics’ Atlas learning to operate on a Hyundai factory floor, underscoring the move toward industrial deployment of AI‑powered humanoids.
- In parallel, Figure announced it is ramping up humanoid manufacturing speed and has signed a commercial agreement with Catalyst Brands to deploy humanoids across the retailer’s logistics network, while China is introducing a national digital‑ID system to track the lifecycle of humanoid robots for safety and standardization.
by Sam Francis
Nvidia has announced the Nvidia Isaac GR00T Reference Humanoid Robot, an open humanoid robot platform designed to accelerate research and development in physical AI and general-purpose robotics.
Unveiled at Nvidia GTC Taipei, the platform combines a Unitree H2 Plus humanoid robot, Sharpa Wave tactile five-finger hands, Nvidia Jetson Thor onboard computing, and the company’s Isaac GR00T software stack into a single reference design. The platform features a Unitree H2 humanoid robot with 31 degrees of freedom, dual Sharpa Wave tactile robot hands with 22 degrees of freedom each, and Nvidia Jetson AGX Thor onboard computing powered by a Blackwell GPU.
A key element of the announcement is Nvidia’s effort to provide a complete humanoid development workflow through the Isaac GR00T ecosystem. The software stack includes Isaac Teleop for data collection, Isaac Sim and Isaac Lab for simulation and training, Isaac ROS middleware for deployment, and Nvidia’s open foundation models for humanoid reasoning and behavior development.
Nvidia also announced that the Isaac GR00T development platform will support the widely used Unitree G1 humanoid robot, extending access to a broader robotics research community. Marco Hutter, professor at ETH Zurich’s Robotic Systems Lab, said: “The Nvidia Isaac GR00T reference design gives our teams a state-of-the-art humanoid platform for collecting data, testing algorithms and validating robot behaviors with the Nvidia Isaac GR00T development platform.”
The Nvidia Isaac GR00T Reference Humanoid Robot is expected to be available from Unitree in late 2026.
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