Unitree G1
Bipedal humanoid robot by Unitree Robotics, designed as a compact research, development, and developer platform.
Applications
- Research
- Home Assistance
Simulation · Simulation & Digital Twins
MuJoCo (Multi-Joint dynamics with Contact)
MuJoCo 3.3·Google DeepMind
Active Open source Real-time capable API available
CATEGORYSimulation · Simulation & Digital Twins
READINESSTRL 9
ADOPTION SCALEIndustry Standard
LICENSESApache-2.0
FIRST RELEASE2022
MuJoCo (Multi-Joint dynamics with Contact) is a rigid-body physics simulation engine created by Emo Todorov in 2008 at the University of Washington. For over a decade it was a commercial, affordable tool dominating contact-rich robotics (dexterous manipulation, locomotion). In October 2021, DeepMind acquired MuJoCo and open-sourced the code under the Apache 2.0 license — fully publicly available since May 2022.
MuJoCo is characterized by: (1) the most accurate contact simulation in its open-source class thanks to soft-constraint LCP (Linear Complementarity Problem), (2) high performance — typically 4000×–10000× faster than real time for small models, (3) a deterministic, gradient-friendly model for differentiable simulation, (4) the native MJCF (MuJoCo XML) description language and a URDF importer, (5) GPU support via MJX (JAX-based) since 2023.
An industry standard in reinforcement learning: OpenAI Gym, Google Brain, DeepMind Control Suite, Meta AI Habitat, Stanford ALOHA, Berkeley DRL, most NeurIPS/ICML/CoRL publications from 2018–2025. The reference MuJoCo Menagerie models include Unitree Go2/G1, Boston Dynamics Spot, Franka Panda, Atlas, ANYmal, Shadow Hand, and dozens more.
Type & Roles
Software types
Simulation
Simulation software is used for modelling, testing, and validating robot behaviours, sensor characteristics, environments, and algorithms without requiring physical hardware. It enables safe, repeatable, and cost-effective development cycles. Common robotics simulators include Gazebo, Isaac Sim (NVIDIA), MuJoCo, PyBullet, and Webots, each offering different trade-offs between physics accuracy, rendering fidelity, and integration with middleware frameworks such as ROS 2.
Developer Tool
A Developer Tool is software designed to support the development workflow, including configuration, debugging, testing, monitoring, validation, and integration of robotic and embedded systems. Examples include IDE plugins, visual debuggers, log analysers, hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) test harnesses, and code-generation utilities specific to robotics platforms.
API Library
An API Library is a software package that exposes programmatic interfaces for communicating with a device, service, or system. In robotics it typically forms a lightweight integration layer built on top of the manufacturer's official API or an open-source project, abstracting low-level protocol details and providing language-native bindings (Python, C++, Java, etc.).
Select an item to see its description.
Main category
Simulation & Digital TwinsDeveloper Tools
Roles in robotics ecosystem
Developer EnablementMotion PlanningPerceptionVisualization
Robot Control
Robot Control denotes the role of software responsible for motion control, command execution, coordination of actuating elements and the direct operational logic of the robot.
Select an item to see its description.
Software family
Family
Robot Simulators
A family of open-source and commercial physics simulators for robotics: Gazebo, Webots, MuJoCo, PyBullet, Isaac Lab, CoppeliaSim, Genesis, and related tools. Common denominator: rigid-body physics engine, URDF/MJCF model support, ROS/ROS 2 integration, sim-to-real transfer.
Maturity & Adoption
9 / 9
Proven in operational conditions
ResearchPrototypeProduction
Adoption scaleIndustry Standard
Maintenance statusActively Maintained
First release2022
Last update20 May 2026
Deployments
OpenAI Five (Dota 2 → Dexterous Hand), Boston Dynamics Atlas (locomotion research), Tesla Optimus walking policy training, Figure 02/03 manipulation policies, Stanford ALOHA bimanual, Google RT-2, NVIDIA Eureka, Stanford Mobile ALOHA. Tens of thousands of RL publications.
Community
github.com/google-deepmind/mujoco 9.5k★, github.com/google-deepmind/mujoco_menagerie 1.8k★, MuJoCo Discord ~4k members, official support at mujoco.readthedocs.io, > 200 talks at RL/Robotics conferences.
Organizations
Integrates with
NI
NVIDIA Isaac Lab
NVIDIA open framework for GPU-based robot learning, built on Isaac Sim. Trains RL policies across thousands of parallel environments. Successor to Isaac Gym and Orbit; Apache 2.0 since 2024.
D
Drake
An open toolbox for modeling, simulation, and control of complex robotic systems — primarily manipulators. Developed since 2013 at MIT by Russ Tedrake; since 2017 supported by the Toyota Research Institute.
R2
ROS 2
Open-source framework for building robot software. The successor to ROS 1, built on DDS with native support for distributed, real-time and multi-platform systems. The de facto standard in research and commercial robotics.
R2
ROS 2 Humble Hawksbill
LTS release of the ROS 2 framework based on Ubuntu 22.04, supported through May 2027. The most widely deployed release in humanoids, AMRs, and research platforms. Full integration with Nav2, MoveIt 2 and ros2_control.
R2
ROS 2 Jazzy Jalisco
ROS 2 Jazzy Jalisco — the latest LTS (May 2024, supported until May 2029) on Ubuntu 24.04. C++17, Fast DDS 3.0, improved executors, RMW Zenoh, better QoS for variable networks.
P
PyBullet
A Python binding to the Bullet Physics SDK engine — the lightest popular simulator for learning-based robotics (RL) and prototyping. Open source under the Zlib license (BSD-compatible), fully Python-first.
G(
Genesis (Embodied AI Physics Simulator)
An open, GPU-accelerated physics simulation engine for generative embodied AI, announced in December 2024 by a consortium of 20+ universities (CMU, Stanford, MIT, Tsinghua). 43M FPS on a single RTX 4090.
Related robotics software
NI
NVIDIA Isaac Lab
NVIDIA open framework for GPU-based robot learning, built on Isaac Sim. Trains RL policies across thousands of parallel environments. Successor to Isaac Gym and Orbit; Apache 2.0 since 2024.
NI
NVIDIA Isaac Sim
Photorealistic robotics simulator (RTX) with advanced PhysX 5 physics. Built on Omniverse Kit, supports ROS 2, synthetic data generation (SDG), Isaac Lab training, and the Isaac ROS deployment pipeline on Jetson.
P
PyBullet
A Python binding to the Bullet Physics SDK engine — the lightest popular simulator for learning-based robotics (RL) and prototyping. Open source under the Zlib license (BSD-compatible), fully Python-first.
D
Drake
An open toolbox for modeling, simulation, and control of complex robotic systems — primarily manipulators. Developed since 2013 at MIT by Russ Tedrake; since 2017 supported by the Toyota Research Institute.
GH
Gazebo Harmonic (gz-sim)
An LTS release of the new-generation Gazebo (gz-sim), released in September 2023 — the successor to Gazebo Classic. Modular architecture, integrated with ROS 2 Humble/Iron/Jazzy, supported until September 2028.
W
Webots
An open-source robot simulator by Cyberbotics. Cross-platform (Linux, Windows, macOS), proprietary physics engine based on ODE, APIs in C/C++, Python, Java, MATLAB, and ROS 2. Apache 2.0 license since 2018.
G(
Genesis (Embodied AI Physics Simulator)
An open, GPU-accelerated physics simulation engine for generative embodied AI, announced in December 2024 by a consortium of 20+ universities (CMU, Stanford, MIT, Tsinghua). 43M FPS on a single RTX 4090.
Supported robot models
Unitree H1
Full-size general-purpose humanoid (~180 cm, ~47 kg). Bipedal, 5 DOF per leg, 3.3 m/s walking speed, 360° perception via 3D LiDAR + depth camera, Unitree M107 PMSM joint motors (~360 N·m peak knee torque).
Applications
- Research
Figure 03
Figure 03 is the third-generation humanoid robot from Figure AI, designed for Helix, home environments, and scalable mass production.
Applications
- Factory Automation
- Industrial Logistics
- Production Line Operation
- Warehouse Automation
- Object Manipulation
- Home Assistance
Tesla Optimus
General-purpose humanoid robot developed by Tesla since 2021 (Tesla Bot). About 173 cm tall, 57 kg, 20 kg payload. Generation 3 hands have 22 degrees of freedom. Controlled by an AI system derived from Tesla FSD.
Applications
- Factory Automation
- Production Line Operation
- Object Manipulation
- Home Assistance
Atlas
Boston Dynamics bipedal humanoid robot. The fully electric generation unveiled in 2024 succeeds the hydraulic Atlas that was retired after more than a decade of research.
Applications
- Factory Automation
- Research
- Production Line Operation
- Object Manipulation
Cassie
Tutor Intelligence industrial robot designed for palletizing, depalletizing and case-picking in warehouses and factories, offered as Robotics-as-a-Service from $14/hr.
Applications
- Warehouse Automation
- Industrial Logistics
- Factory Automation
- Object Manipulation
- Production Line Operation
MagicBot Z1
Compact, high-dynamics bipedal humanoid by MagicLab. 140 cm, 40 kg, 24–50 DOF, walking speed up to 2.5 m/s. Unveiled on 8 July 2025 with martial arts and acrobatic demos.
Applications
- Research
- Hospitality
- Retail Trade
- Home Assistance
- Object Manipulation
Target robotic platforms
Humanoid
Quadruped
Mobile Robot
Robotic Arm
Industrial Robot
Service Robot
Research Robot
Drone / UAV
ROS supportCompatibility with ROS / ROS 2 ecosystem
Community ROS 2 WrapperWrapper ROS 2 tworzony i utrzymywany przez społeczność, nie przez producenta
ROS 2 Bridge / AdapterMost lub adapter łączący oprogramowanie z ekosystemem ROS 2 bez natywnej integracji
System capabilities
⊙
Open source
Source code is publicly available under an open-source license — enables security audits, custom modifications, and integration without licensing barriers.
✓
⚡
Real-time capable
Designed with timing-determinism guarantees — meets the requirements of control loops, safety systems, and tasks demanding low, predictable latency.
✓
⟨/⟩
API available
The software exposes a programmable interface (REST, gRPC, SDK, or language bindings) that enables automation and integration with other systems.
✓
📦
Pre-built / binary
Distributed as ready-to-use binary packages, container images, or installers — no need to build from source.
✓
Programming languages
C++PythonC
Operating systems
Ubuntu 22.04Ubuntu 20.04DebianWindowsmacOS
Minimum hardware requirements
Minimum hardware requirements
CPUQuad-core x86-64 or Apple Silicon
RAM (GB)4
GPUOptional; MJX requires an NVIDIA GPU with CUDA ≥ 11 (CUDA 12 recommended)
Disk (GB)2
The lightest of major simulators — starts in seconds. MJX allows > 1000 parallel environments on a single GPU.
Packaging & distribution
Package managers
pip / PyPIconda / mambaGitHub Releases / GitHub Actions ArtifactsSource – CMake / ament_cmakeDocker / Docker Hub
CPU architectures
x86_64 (AMD64)ARM64 / AArch64Apple Silicon – AArch64 (macOS)NVIDIA GPU (CUDA – x86_64)
Installation difficulty
LevelOut of the box
Protocols and interfaces
Communication protocols
Shared Memory (POSIX / mmap)gRPCWebSocket
Hardware interfaces
PCIe 4.0Ethernet 10GBASE-T (10 Gigabit Ethernet)
Latency classes
Hard Real-Time (< 1 ms)Hard Real-Time (1–5 ms)Soft Real-Time (20–100 ms)
Deployment types
Local WorkstationContainerizedCloud
Supported simulators
MuJoCo
MuJoCo Menagerie
Official Docker images
nvcr.io/nvidia/isaac-sim
Licenses
Apache-2.0Apache License 2.0v2.0
License family: Permissive
ModificationDistributionCommercial useSublicensingPrivate useROS-compatibleOSI approvedFSF Free/LibreRequires attributionPatent grant
Version history
MuJoCo 3.3Apr 2025
FEM stabilization, new USD (Pixar Universal Scene Description) importer.
MuJoCo 3.2Sept 2024
Soft-body simulation (FEM) introduced as experimental.
MuJoCo 3.1Jan 2024
New Menagerie models: Unitree G1, Booster T1, Apptronik Apollo.
MuJoCo MJX 3.0Dec 2023
GPU-accelerated JAX version for RL across thousands of environments.
MuJoCo 2.3.0Sept 2022
Open-source under Apache 2.0; native Python support.
MuJoCo 2.1.0Oct 2021
First free release after the DeepMind acquisition.