tech-frontier
Why the Humanoid Race Has Left the Station
2026-06-09 · TIGAI Research Team
It is a strange feeling, standing at Computex 2026 in Taipei, watching Jensen Huang unveil NVIDIA’s Isaac GR00T reference humanoid robot – an open platform combining Unitree’s hardware, Sharpa’s tactile hands and NVIDIA’s AI brain – and realising that Japan, once the undisputed leader in humanoid robotics, is nowhere to be seen. The irony is sharp: growing up watching Honda’s ASIMO mesmerise audiences at the 2005 Aichi Expo, dancing and pouring drinks with what then seemed like magic. Today, ASIMO is retired. Toyota’s partner robots never reached the market. That legacy has been replaced by silence.
Read More →