NVIDIA unveils humanoid robot reference design for researchers

NVIDIA has unveiled the "NVIDIA Isaac GR00T Reference Humanoid Robot," a reference design for humanoid robots utilizing its NVIDIA Isaac GR00T development platform. This design is now available to researchers. The physical robot, based on this reference design, will be launched by Chinese robotics company Unitree in the latter half of 2026.

The reference design incorporates Unitree's H2 humanoid robot chassis, Singapore-based Sharpa's five-fingered robot hand, NVIDIA's Jetson Thor module for embedded AI, and the NVIDIA Isaac GR00T platform.

The robot, including its hands, stands approximately 183cm tall and weighs about 68kg, similar in size to a human. It features 75 degrees of freedom (the number of directions a joint can move) throughout its body. In addition to an inertial measurement unit, it is equipped with cameras on its wrists and stereo cameras in its head. Its arms can carry up to approximately 7kg, and the entire robot can carry 15kg. It also includes a remote emergency stop function.

NVIDIA states that the release of this reference design will facilitate the verification and development of humanoid robots in real-world scenarios. Several institutions are already planning to use this design for their research, including the robotics centers at Stanford University and ETH Zurich, the US research institution Ai2, and the University of California San Diego.

NVIDIA also plans to release a reference design based on Unitree's smaller model, the G1, in the near future.