Google's Gemini Robotics 2 enables whole-body control for humanoid

Google DeepMind unveiled Gemini Robotics 2 on July 30, 2026, an AI platform that enables robots to perform tasks with what the company calls "intelligent whole-body control." A video released alongside the announcement shows humanoid robots handling a variety of physical actions, including placing a tape into a boombox, screwing in a lightbulb, and tying up a garbage bag.

The new system builds on the original Gemini Robotics model, which previously powered robotic arms and hands to execute delicate maneuvers like closing storage bags and folding origami. The updated version integrates multiple AI models to give robots a multimodal understanding of their surroundings: a vision language model for comprehension and two vision language action models that separately govern full-body movement and hand dexterity.

Google asserts that the video features "real-time footage" of "fully autonomous" robots, a claim that stands in contrast to a high-profile demonstration by Elon Musk's Optimus robots, which was later shown to have relied on teleoperators. The company trained the robots specifically for each task shown, using a combination of human teleoperation, video examples, and simulations, meaning the machines are not general-purpose devices capable of performing any arbitrary job.

Carolina Parada, head of robotics at Google DeepMind, told Wired that the safety question is especially pressing when deploying robots in varied environments, where uncertainty is high. To address this, Google is implementing a multi-layered safety approach with guardrails at each model layer and has introduced a new benchmark called ASIMOV-Agentic, which detects whether a command could lead to a harmful outcome.

Google DeepMind described the release as "another milestone in our path towards really getting towards what we call like physical AGI," according to a statement published by Wired, referring to the goal of creating a robot that can do anything a human can. However, the company emphasized that consumer-facing robots are not imminent, and the technology remains in early stages.

In contrast, Elon Musk has made ambitious projections for Tesla's Optimus robots, once stating that 50,000 to 100,000 units would be available by 2026 and that 1,000 would be operating in manufacturing facilities by the end of 2025. Neither target was met, though Musk has predicted the robots will become "the biggest product ever" and generate $10 trillion in sales.