Nvidia has partnered with two Chinese robotics companies to supply mechanical hands for its humanoid robot training systems. The company showcased training packages using hands from Sharpa and Wuji, both Chinese manufacturers.
Wuji, founded in 2019 and based in Shenzhen, counts Ant Group, HSG, and Future Capital as backers. The Wuji Hand 2 appeared on a slide during Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's presentation in Berlin on October 21, where he introduced the Agile One SN hardware system for training robots. The Wuji Hand 2 demonstrated autonomous pen-spinning in a recent demo video.
Sharpa, headquartered in Singapore with manufacturing and research operations in Shanghai, was co-founded by David Li, CEO of lidar company Hesai. Sharpa supplied hands for Nvidia's first reference humanoid design announced May 31, which uses a body from Chinese company Unitree and was scheduled for delivery starting late 2026.
Google DeepMind research lead Keerthana Gopalakrishnan compared the two startups in a podcast last month, noting that Sharpa's hands are stronger than Wuji's, which match human hand size but have the strength of a ten-year-old. According to JoyIn humanoid startup founder Zhu Mingxuan, Wuji's hands are light and complete tasks well but tend to overheat, while Sharpa's perform better at higher cost.
Research institutions including Stanford and ETH Zurich can likely begin using the Agile One SN system in early 2027, according to Nvidia. The system uses Nvidia's Isaac robotics software and Jetson Thor computing platform. Meta has also worked with Chinese startup Fourier on a humanoid prototype, according to The Information, citing sources.