Agile Robots and NVIDIA Launch Agile ONE SN Reference Humanoid for Research Labs

On October 21, NVIDIA expanded its Isaac open robot development platform at GTC Berlin, while Munich-based Agile Robots and NVIDIA simultaneously introduced the Agile ONE SN, a ready-to-use reference humanoid robot targeting academic research.

On October 21, NVIDIA expanded its Isaac open robotics development platform at GTC Berlin. On the same day, Munich-based Agile Robots and NVIDIA jointly launched the Agile ONE SN reference humanoid robot. Standing 1.40 meters tall and weighing 40 kilograms, the robot features 31 degrees of freedom in its body, a 3-kilogram payload capacity per arm, and two five-fingered dexterous hands with 20 degrees of freedom each. It is powered by Jetson Thor, comes pre-installed with Isaac GR00T, and is scheduled for release in early 2027.

The decision to build a turnkey, fully assembled robot stems from a common challenge: according to NVIDIA, robotics researchers often have to piece together separate tools for simulation, training, and deployment to transfer robot skills from the development environment to the real world. Agile ONE SN consolidates these tools and workflows into a single platform, reducing setup time "from weeks to days." NVIDIA's Director of Robotics Products, Spencer Huang, told Reuters that standardized pre-configurations can save researchers two to three months of component debugging time.

The Agile ONE SN is another reference humanoid introduced by NVIDIA. At GTC Taipei in June this year, NVIDIA and Unitree launched the Isaac GR00T humanoid robot reference platform based on the Unitree H2 Plus. This platform integrates the Unitree H2 Plus humanoid robot, Sharpa five-fingered dexterous hands, Jetson Thor, and Isaac GR00T software. Also targeted at academic research, it is scheduled to be released by Unitree in late 2026. Regarding the "SN" in the name, Reuters reported that the "N" stands for NVIDIA, indicating a model with a configuration jointly determined by both parties.

To ensure the system is ready for immediate use in research labs, the Agile ONE SN's hardware and software are delivered as a fully pre-configured package:

• Body: Based on the Agile ONE S humanoid platform, the body and hands combined feature a total of 71 degrees of freedom, with joint torques reaching up to 140 Nm;
• Hands: Two WUJI Hand 2 five-fingered dexterous hands, supporting 1 kHz force control and tactile sensing;
• Compute: Onboard Jetson Thor, delivering 2,070 FP4 TFLOPS of compute performance and 128 GB of unified memory for onboard inference and real-time control;
• Perception: Head-mounted RGB-D camera, wrist cameras, a 3D LiDAR, and an inertial measurement unit;
• Connectivity and Safety: Supports Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth, includes an emergency stop button, and plans to integrate the NVIDIA Halos safety system.

The dexterous hands are supplied by WUJI TECH. According to the company, each finger of the WUJI Hand 2 features 4 active degrees of freedom and utilizes backdrivable direct-drive rotary joints, supporting hybrid force-position control. The manufacturer also provides simulation models in URDF, MJCF, and USD formats, which can be loaded directly into MuJoCo and Isaac Sim.

On the software side, the robot comes pre-installed from the factory with the open VLA model GR00T 1.7, GR00T whole-body control, and the end-to-end GR00T reference workflow covering demonstration collection, data generation, simulation, training, evaluation, deployment, and real-robot testing. The robot also includes URDF and USD assets that can be directly imported into Isaac Sim and Isaac Lab for simulation.

On the same day, NVIDIA officially released Isaac Lab 3.0. According to NVIDIA, it is an open-source, agent-oriented robotics learning framework that supports multi-GPU workflows from desktops to data centers for training and optimizing robot policies. Users can choose between the Newton and PhysX physics engines.

As a reference platform, the system is open and modular. Agile Robots states that research teams can use the entire workflow or integrate only select components into their own tech stacks. This approach facilitates sharing and comparing research across different laboratories while keeping data under the researchers' control.

"Advancing humanoid robotics research requires easy access to a complete, open software and hardware platform," said Deepu Talla, Vice President of Robotics and Edge AI at NVIDIA. "Agile ONE SN integrates Isaac GR00T and Jetson Thor into a single system, unifying demonstration collection, simulation, training, validation, and deployment, thereby reducing integration effort."

The platform's hardware is provided by Agile Robots. Founded in Munich in 2018, the company was co-founded by Zhaopeng Chen and Peter Meusel, both formerly with the German Aerospace Center (DLR). During his doctoral studies at DLR, Chen developed a humanoid robotic hand and later served as deputy director of DLR's Modular Dexterous Robotics Laboratory.

In November 2025, the company unveiled its first humanoid robot, the full-sized Agile ONE, designed for industrial applications such as material collection and handling, pick-and-place operations, machine tool loading and unloading, tool use, and fine manipulation. According to Agile Robots, Agile ONE’s hands are equipped with fingertip sensors, and every joint features force/torque sensors. Its AI models are trained on real-world industrial data, simulation data, and human-collected data. The company plans to begin in-house mass production at a new facility in Bavaria in early 2026. Agile ONE SN is positioned as a compact reference platform, developed based on the company’s extensive experience in research collaborations. Agile Robots notes that skills and data developed on the Agile ONE SN can subsequently be transferred to the Agile ONE.

Both NVIDIA and Agile Robots noted that institutions such as Stanford University and ETH Zurich have expressed interest in the robot. During GTC Berlin, the Agile ONE SN was exhibited at both the NVIDIA and Agile Robots booths. "The breakthrough in humanoid robotics lies in scalable utility: an adaptable machine that learns a wide range of skills and operates in environments designed for humans," said Chen.

In an interview with Reuters, Chen stated that production of the Agile ONE S and ONE SN will begin before the end of this year, with the company expecting to produce 1,000 to 2,000 units next year. The company has not yet announced official pricing.