Humanoids

Nvidia announced the Isaac GR00T Reference Humanoid Robot at GTC Taipei. It’s an open hardware and software stack for academic research, built around the Unitree H2 Plus chassis, dual Sharpa Wave tactile hands, multi-view sensing, and a Jetson AGX Thor T5000 onboard. The software side is the full Isaac suite: Teleop for data capture, Sim and Lab for training, open foundation models, ROS middleware, and on-device inference via Jetson Thor. Partner institutions include Ai2, ETH Zurich, Stanford Robotics Center, and UC San Diego. Available late 2026 from Unitree. ...

Robotic actuators have always forced a choice. You can have strength or sensitivity, power or mobility, but not both in one component. That’s why humanoids still rely on heavy motors, gearboxes, and external sensors stitched together to fake what a single muscle does naturally. Two new papers just hit, and together they look like the closest thing yet to an actual muscle analog for robots. The first, published in PNAS, introduces HARP, a Helical Anisotropically Reinforced Polymer actuator. It solves the mechanics side. Contraction ratios up to 75%, power density of 1.93 kW/kg, 29% energy efficiency. What makes it different is that the design is decoupled, meaning the same framework can be tuned for low-pressure actuation, abrasion resistance, or low hysteresis depending on what you need. That’s a versatile platform, not a one-off. ...