Google DeepMind's Gemini Robotics 2 Gives Humanoids Full-Body AI Control
Google DeepMind launches Gemini Robotics 2, bringing full-body humanoid control, multi-finger dexterity, and cross-robot collaboration to physical AI
- Three new models: Gemini Robotics 2 (full-body VLA), Gemini Robotics ER 2 (reasoning brain), and On-Device 2 (local, fast adaptation).
- Whole-body humanoid control: For the first time, a single model controls a humanoid from feet to fingertips, not just tabletop arms.
- Multi-robot collaboration: Different robot types (e.g., humanoid + arm) can now communicate and divide tasks via a shared semantic layer.
- ER 2 is publicly available via Google AI Studio and the Gemini API; VLA models require early-access sign-up.
- Fast hardware adaptation: On-Device 2 can adapt to a brand-new robot body in a few hours with fewer than 200 demonstration examples.
- Honest benchmarks: Multi-finger dexterity success rates range from 32-92%, with screwing in a lightbulb at only 36%, showing real frontier challenges remain.
For years, the most capable robot demos shared a common limitation: a single arm, a tabletop, and a narrow set of pre-programmed tasks. Google DeepMind's Gemini Robotics 2 breaks that pattern. The new release introduces whole-body humanoid control, advanced multi-finger dexterity, and the ability for different robot platforms to collaborate on a shared task, all powered by a single AI model.
One brain, three models
Gemini Robotics 2 is a family of three distinct models, each targeting a different layer of the robotics stack:
- Gemini Robotics 2: A vision-language-action (VLA) model that takes camera input and natural language instructions and outputs direct motor commands. This is the model that physically moves the robot, and it now controls full humanoids from feet to fingertips, not just tabletop arms.
- Gemini Robotics ER 2: The "embodied reasoning" model, acting as the high-level planner. It watches video feeds, plans multi-step tasks, calls external tools like Google Search, and hands off execution to the VLA model.
- Gemini Robotics On-Device 2: An efficient VLA optimized to run locally on robot hardware with no network dependency, capable of adapting to a new robot body in just a few hours.
Gemini Robotics ER 2 is publicly available via the Gemini API and Google AI Studio, and in private preview on the Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform. The VLA and On-Device models are available to early-access partners.
From tabletop to whole-body
Previous models controlled a humanoid's upper body for tabletop tasks. Gemini Robotics 2 extends that to full-body motion. In the demo, Apptronik's Apollo 2 humanoid receives a single natural language prompt, walks to a table, picks up a watering can, navigates to a shelf, and places it in the correct bin. Movement speed still has room to improve, but coordinating locomotion with manipulation in a single model is a meaningful step toward robots that can operate in unstructured environments.