Nvidia plans humanoid robot research partnerships with US, Korean, European firms

Nvidia plans to collaborate with robotics companies in the United States, South Korea and Europe — not just China's Unitree Robotics — to develop humanoid robots for research purposes, Reuters reported Sunday, citing anonymous Nvidia executives.

After Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang delivered a keynote address at GTC Taipei at the Taipei Music Center in Taiwan, company executives said Nvidia is working with Unitree to develop a standardized version of the H2 humanoid robot for use by academic researchers.

Unitree will manufacture the robot's body, while Singapore-based Sharpa will supply the robotic hands. Nvidia will handle the computing system.

Nvidia said the robot is expected to serve as a research platform at leading institutions including Stanford University and the University of California, San Diego.

Beyond its partnership with Unitree, Nvidia also plans to pursue similar projects with robotics firms in the United States, South Korea and Europe.

However, the executives declined to name the US, Korean and European partners, saying those plans have not yet been made public.

The executives said the collaboration with Unitree aims to strengthen cybersecurity for Unitree's research robots.

For example, software updates to each of the robot's subsystems must pass through an Nvidia chip, which then verifies the authenticity of the update code.

Nvidia added that by directly integrating its latest Blackwell chips into the Unitree robot body, it will apply the same cybersecurity features to protect its data center servers.

The security technology, known as secure boot and confidential computing, is designed to prevent robots from executing malicious code and to stop sensitive data from leaving the robot without authorization, Reuters said.