Agile Robots to Build Up to 2,000 Research Humanoids With Nvidia
Agile Robots plans to produce between 1,000 and 2,000 compact humanoid robots in the coming year through a partnership with Nvidia, CEO Zhaopeng Chen told Reuters. The planned volume is aimed at research users rather than mass-market deployment. Universities and corporate research laboratories are among the target customers.
Production of the Agile ONE S and Agile ONE SN is scheduled to begin by the end of 2026, according to the Reuters report. The timeline places the two models at an early stage of commercialization, with manufacturing set to start before customer availability.
The disclosed output range is notable for a research-oriented humanoid line. Many humanoid robot developers have focused on pilot programs and small-batch deployments. A plan for 1,000 to 2,000 units suggests Agile Robots expects demand from laboratories that need multiple platforms for experiments.
The target customers reflect where humanoid robots are being tested first. Universities and corporate labs use such systems to study manipulation, locomotion, human-robot interaction and embodied artificial intelligence. Compact humanoid models can be easier to accommodate in indoor laboratory spaces than larger bipedal machines.
Agile Robots has not disclosed pricing or a full customer list in the Reuters account. The company’s partnership with Nvidia is central to the plan. Nvidia provides computing and software tools for robotics developers, and the collaboration links Agile Robots’ hardware with a platform designed for robotics research and development.
Chen’s comments position Agile Robots as one of several companies seeking to supply humanoid robots to academic and industrial research teams. The company is betting that demand for research platforms will grow as labs seek standardized hardware for testing new control and AI methods.
The plan also highlights the role of research institutions in early humanoid adoption. Before robots are deployed in factories, warehouses or homes, developers need controlled environments to test safety, reliability and software integration. Universities and corporate labs can provide that setting while helping vendors refine their platforms.
The Agile ONE SN comes preconfigured with Nvidia’s Isaac GR00T robotics software and uses the Jetson Thor computing platform. The configuration combines the robot hardware with tools for simulation, training and deployment. Agile Robots says the setup reduces the work researchers must do before testing new capabilities.
Isaac GR00T is Nvidia’s robotics software stack for developing humanoid robot capabilities, while Jetson Thor is a computing platform for robotics and edge AI. By preinstalling both, the ONE SN is intended to give research teams a starting point for software development rather than requiring them to integrate core computing and simulation tools themselves.
The system’s toolchain covers simulation, training and deployment, according to the Reuters report. Simulation allows developers to test behaviors in virtual environments before running them on physical robots. Training tools support the development of control and AI models, while deployment tools help move tested software onto the robot.
Stanford University and ETH Zurich are among potential customers, Chen told Reuters. The mention of two prominent research institutions underscores the focus on academic users. Such customers often need flexible platforms that can support a wide range of experiments rather than a single commercial task.
The models are expected to become available in early 2027. The planned production start by the end of 2026 and the expected availability in early 2027 set a tight sequence between manufacturing and customer delivery. Agile Robots has not said how many of the planned units are already committed to customers.
For Nvidia, the partnership extends its robotics software and computing platform into another humanoid robot line. For Agile Robots, the collaboration adds a preconfigured software environment that may lower the barrier for research labs considering humanoid platforms. Reuters reported the plans.
The ONE S and ONE SN are two variants of Agile Robots’ humanoid platform. Reuters did not specify differences between the two beyond the ONE SN’s Nvidia configuration. The preconfigured SN model is therefore the clearest example of how the companies are combining hardware and software for research users.