--- title: "NVIDIA Unveils Research Robot Platform Combining Unitree, Sharpa and AI: Isaac GR00T Reference Humanoid for Academic Research" url: https://digitaltechbyte.com/nvidia-unveils-research-robot-platform-combining-unitree-sharpa-ai/ date: 2026-06-01 modified: 2026-06-01 author: "Brijesh Desai" description: "NVIDIA unveils research robot platform combining Unitree, Sharpa and AI with the Isaac GR00T Reference Humanoid Robot, featuring Unitree H2 Plus body, Sharpa Wave five-fingered hands, and Jetson Thor compute..." categories: - "News" tags: - "31 degrees of freedom robot body" - "6 feet 150 pounds humanoid robot" - "Chinese robotics champion" - "democratize humanoid research" - "H2 Plus 25 degrees of freedom hand" - "humanoid robot" - "humanoid robot academic research" - "Isaac GR00T" - "Isaac GR00T developer platform GitHub Hugging Face" - "Isaac GR00T foundational models" - "Jensen Huang humanoid robot announcement" - "Jetson Thor Blackwell GPU" - "NVIDIA Blackwell GPU robot" - "NVIDIA Isaac GR00T" - "NVIDIA Isaac GR00T Reference Humanoid Robot" - "NVIDIA Jetson Thor" - "NVIDIA Jetson Thor humanoid compute" - "NVIDIA Unitree Sharpa partnership" - "Open humanoid robot reference design" - "Sharpa and AI" - "Sharpa Wave five-fingered robot hands" - "Stanford ETH Zurich humanoid research" - "Unitree G1 humanoid robot support" - "Unitree H2 Plus humanoid robot" - "Unitree H2 Plus October 2026 launch" - "Unitree Robotics" image: https://digitaltechbyte.com/wpbytes/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Nvidia.jpg word_count: 627 --- # NVIDIA Unveils Research Robot Platform Combining Unitree, Sharpa and AI: Isaac GR00T Reference Humanoid for Academic Research NVIDIA unveils research robot platform combining Unitree, Sharpa and AI with the Isaac GR00T Reference Humanoid Robot, featuring Unitree H2 Plus body, Sharpa Wave five-fingered hands, and Jetson Thor compute with Blackwell GPU for academic research. **NVIDIA unveils research robot platform combining Unitree, Sharpa and AI**, announcing the **Isaac GR00T Reference Humanoid Robot** — the first open humanoid robot reference design built on NVIDIA Jetson Thor and the NVIDIA Isaac GR00T open development platform. CEO Jensen Huang revealed the partnership during a keynote address in Taipei on Monday ahead of Computex 2026, teaming up with **Chinese robotics champion Unitree Robotics** and **Singapore-based robotic hand maker Sharpa** to accelerate innovation in the global humanoid industry. ## What is the Isaac GR00T Reference Humanoid Robot? The new design, called **H2+** or **Isaac GR00T**, is a **state-of-the-art robot reference design** that allows researchers to build, fine-tune, and deploy skills faster. It streamlines the full development workflow, including **data collection, policy training, and real-world deployment**. The platform unifies development by bringing together three key components: | Component | What It Provides | Source | | --------- | ---------------- | ------ | | **Body** | Unitree's human-sized **H2 Plus humanoid robot** (6ft tall, 150 lbs, 31 degrees of freedom) | Unitree Robotics (China) | | **Hands** | Sharpa's flagship **Wave five-fingered robot hands** (25 degrees of freedom each, tactile) | Sharpa (Singapore) | | **Brain** | NVIDIA's **Isaac GR00T foundational models** + **Jetson Thor** compute with **Blackwell GPU** | NVIDIA (USA) | Together, this creates a **fully integrated humanoid robot** with **25 degrees of freedom in each hand** and **31 degrees of freedom in the robot body**. ## Key specifications - **Height**: Nearly **6 feet tall** (human-sized) - **Weight**: **150 pounds** - **Degrees of freedom**: **31 DOF** in the robot body, **25 DOF in each hand** - **Onboard compute**: **NVIDIA Jetson Thor** powered by the cutting-edge **Blackwell GPU** - **Hands**: **Sharpa Wave** tactile five-finger hands with dexterous manipulation - **AI models**: **Isaac GR00T foundational models** providing advanced reasoning capabilities - **Software stack**: Includes **data generation, simulation, data collection, policy training, and real-world deployment** tools ## Why this matters for research According to Rev Lebaredian, NVIDIA's vice president of physical AI simulation, the initiative aims to **democratize cutting-edge humanoid research**, moving it beyond just the largest tech firms and AI unicorns to make it accessible to **every laboratory**. Researchers from institutions including: **Stanford University** **University of California San Diego** **ETH Zurich** are expected to utilize these robots for academic research. ## Availability and future plans - **H2 Plus launch**: The upgraded H2 Plus version of Unitree's H2 humanoid robot is set to launch in **October 2026**, and "anyone can purchase it" - **Unitree G1 support**: The NVIDIA Isaac GR00T developer platform will also support the **Unitree G1 humanoid robot**, extending the same development approach to a robot widely used by researchers and humanoid developers across leading institutions. The reference workflow for Unitree G1 is expected to be available soon on **GitHub and Hugging Face** - **Global partnerships**: NVIDIA plans to work with humanoid robot makers in the **U.S., Europe, and South Korea** in addition to China's Unitree to build robots for researchers ## Jensen Huang's vision During his keynote, Jensen Huang said: > "Today, we're unveiling Nvidia Isaac, a humanoid robot fully integrated with 25 degrees of freedom in each hand crafted by Sharpa, and 31 degrees of freedom in the robot itself, weighing in at six feet and 150 pounds, just like me. This platform operates on the new Thor and incorporates our entire software stack, including data generation and simulation, all integrated into a robot designed for universal use." By directly integrating NVIDIA's **Blackwell chips** with Unitree's robot bodies, the company brings the same **security features** it uses to protect data center servers to humanoid research robots. --- **NVIDIA unveils research robot platform combining Unitree, Sharpa and AI** is a landmark moment for humanoid robotics. The **Isaac GR00T Reference Humanoid Robot** combines **Unitree's H2 Plus body**, **Sharpa's Wave five-fingered hands**, and **NVIDIA's Jetson Thor compute with Blackwell GPU** into a single, open platform that researchers at Stanford, ETH Zurich, and beyond can actually afford and use. With the H2 Plus launching in **October 2026** and anyone able to purchase it, NVIDIA is making cutting-edge humanoid research accessible to everyone—not just Big Tech. This is how you democratize the future of robotics.