FrontierJuly 30, 2026via The Verge AI
Google DeepMind’s new AI model can control a robot’s entire body
Why it matters
A capability jump in robotic control: the model progressed from upper-body manipulation to whole-body coordination (walking, crouching, object manipulation). This is a frontier model advancement with immediate hardware implications—practitioners evaluating robotics AI stacks need to track this.
Key signals
- Gemini Robotics 2 supports whole-body motions (previous version: upper body only)
- New capabilities: walking, crouching, stretching, object manipulation
- Demonstrated on Apptronik Apollo 2 robot
- Specific tasks shown: bending to pick up objects, shelf retrieval
- Published by Google DeepMind, July 2026
The hook
Google DeepMind's Gemini Robotics 2 now controls a humanoid robot's entire body—from feet to fingertips. That changes what robots can actually do.
Apptronik’s Apollo 2 robot takes a baseball glove off of a shelf. | Image: Google
Google DeepMind says the latest version of its Gemini Robotics AI model can "control entire humanoid robots." While the previous model focused on controlling a humanoid robot's upper body, Gemini Robotics 2 now suppo…