Build the Androids Future
Simulators, SDKs, ROS2 tooling, and open-source projects for engineers and researchers working at the frontier of humanoid robotics.
Simulation Environments
Prototype behaviors, train AI policies, and validate control algorithms before touching hardware. These are the definitive simulators for humanoid robotics in 2026.
Gazebo (Classic & Harmonic)
Open-source robotics simulator with deep ROS2 integration. Ideal for whole-body control, multi-robot scenarios, and URDF/SDF model testing.
- GitHub — Gazebo Classic
- Search humanoid URDF/SDF models in the model library
- Works natively with ROS2 control stack
NVIDIA Isaac Sim
GPU-accelerated, PhysX-based sim on Omniverse. Best-in-class for vision-based policy learning. Unitree G1 and H1 models available.
- GitHub — Open-source extensions
- Isaac Lab — RL training workflows
- Supports sim-to-real transfer pipelines
MuJoCo
Blazingly fast open-source physics engine — the standard for dexterous manipulation research. Integrates cleanly with PyTorch and Gymnasium.
- GitHub — Google DeepMind fork
- MJCF model format, Python bindings included
- Used in majority of humanoid locomotion papers
ROS 2 Integration & Tooling
Most commercially-deployed humanoids — Unitree G1/H1, Digit, Apollo — support or expose ROS2 interfaces for sensing, actuation, and navigation pipelines.
Quick Start — ROS 2 Jazzy + Gazebo (Ubuntu 24.04)
# Install ROS 2 Jazzy Jalisco on Ubuntu 24.04 (current LTS)
sudo apt update && sudo apt install ros-jazzy-desktop
# Source the environment
source /opt/ros/jazzy/setup.bash
# Create a workspace and add your humanoid package
mkdir -p ~/ros2_ws/src && cd ~/ros2_ws/src
# git clone your humanoid package here
cd ~/ros2_ws
colcon build --symlink-install
source install/setup.bash
# Launch your simulation
ros2 launch <your_package> gazebo.launch.py
# Or use Humble (still supported, Ubuntu 22.04)
sudo apt install ros-humble-desktop
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ROS 2 Jazzy Jalisco — Official Docs
Current LTS release (May 2024–May 2029), targeting Ubuntu 24.04. ROS 2 Humble (Ubuntu 22.04, supported until May 2027) remains widely used across humanoid platforms.
ROS2 Python C++
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Isaac Sim — ROS2 Bridge
DDS-based bridge (FastRTPS / CycloneDDS) enabling bidirectional ROS2 ↔ Isaac Sim communication via the
isaacsim.ros2.bridgeextension. Required for sim-to-real workflows.Isaac Sim ROS2
Open-Source Humanoid Projects
Fork, study, and build upon these. Great for research, education, and bootstrapping hardware or AI stacks without a $90K platform budget.
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Berkeley Humanoid Lite
Sub-$5,000 3D-printable humanoid with 22 cycloidal gearbox actuators. Includes sim2real locomotion policies (trained in Isaac Lab) and full teleop code. One of the most complete open hardware humanoid projects available.
Isaac Lab Python ROS2
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Awesome Robotics Projects
Curated list of open-source robots including Reachy 2 (Pollen Robotics' open humanoid), low-cost arms, and community builds.
Curated List
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Awesome Humanoid Robot Learning
Papers and code covering loco-manipulation, whole-body control, and dexterous hand policies — most with real-robot experiments and reproducible results.
Python MuJoCo / Isaac
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Open X-Humanoid Toolchain
Training pipeline adapting the TienKung humanoid robot and the RoboMIND dataset to the LeRobot framework, converting HDF5 data to LeRobotDataset V2.1 format. From the Beijing Innovation Center of Humanoid Robotics.
Python LeRobot
Manufacturer SDKs & APIs
Direct interfaces to real hardware — where publicly available. Unitree leads the field for developer accessibility; most others are enterprise-gated.
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Unitree (G1 / H1)
The most developer-friendly SDK in the industry. Full ROS2, Python, and C++ support with Isaac Sim and MuJoCo integration. Includes locomotion APIs and whole-body control interfaces. The Unitree Robotics Developer Platform (world's first humanoid robot App Store) launched in public beta in December 2025, allowing users to upload, download, and share motion actions and training datasets for the G1.
ROS2 Python C++ Isaac / MuJoCo
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Figure AI (Figure 02 / 03)
Enterprise-focused. No public SDK currently. Community reverse-engineering and unofficial interfaces are shared on GitHub. Requires direct partnership agreement with Figure AI.
Enterprise Only
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Agility Robotics — Digit
No public developer SDK. Agility Arc is a cloud-based fleet management and operations platform — it manages workflows and task assignments, but is not a developer control interface. Community ROS2 interfaces (e.g. via Agility's JSON API) exist on GitHub from research pilots. Direct hardware access requires an enterprise agreement with Agility Robotics.
Arc Fleet Mgmt Enterprise Only
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Apptronik — Apollo
Compute: NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin + Jetson Orin NX (275+ TOPS). Leverages NVIDIA GR00T foundation models and Isaac Lab for robot learning. No public developer SDK confirmed. Contact Apptronik directly for pilot program access.
Isaac Lab No Public SDK