Nvidia Partners Unitree to Power Next-Gen Humanoid Robots as AI Robotics Race Accelerates

Nvidia has taken a bold step deeper into the robotics industry by selecting Chinese startup Unitree as its key partner for a new humanoid robot platform aimed at research institutions. The move signals the chip giant’s growing ambition to dominate “physical AI,” a sector CEO Jensen Huang believes could eventually be worth tens of trillions of dollars.

At the center of the collaboration is Unitree’s nearly six-foot-tall H2 humanoid robot, powered by Nvidia’s Jetson Thor hardware, which integrates the company’s advanced Blackwell GPU for on-device artificial intelligence processing. The system also includes Nvidia’s Isaac GR00T AI models and simulation tools, designed to help researchers train and test humanoid robots more efficiently.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang unveiled the platform during a keynote in Taipei, describing it as a fully integrated robotics system with advanced dexterity and computing power. The humanoid features 31 degrees of freedom in its body and 25 in each robotic hand, built by Singapore-based Sharpa, making it capable of complex and human-like movement.

The new system is being positioned primarily for universities and research labs, with institutions such as Stanford University, ETH Zurich, UC San Diego, and Ai2 already lined up to use it. Nvidia says the goal is to democratize access to cutting-edge robotics development, shifting it away from only large tech firms and into academic environments where innovation can scale faster.

Meanwhile, Unitree is preparing for a major financial milestone as it seeks to raise about $620 million through its planned IPO on China’s STAR market. The startup, already generating more than 40% of its revenue from international markets, is positioning itself as a global robotics contender, even as the humanoid robotics industry remains in its early stages with limited real-world deployment.

source: cnbc