Google DeepMind launches Gemini Robotics 2 for full-body robot control

Google DeepMind released Gemini Robotics 2, a set of three models: a vision-language-action (VLA) model for whole-body humanoid control, Gemini Robotics ER 2 for embodied reasoning and task orchestration, and an on-device VLA that adapts to new robot bodies within hours. One checkpoint already drives Apptronik's Apollo 2 humanoid and a Franka Duo arm, though only ER 2 is publicly available so far.

Why it matters: This marks Google's clearest push toward "physical AGI" - extending its foundation-model approach from chat and code into full-body robot control, competing directly with Figure, Tesla Optimus, and Apptronik's own software stack. Keeping the core VLA model private while releasing only the reasoning layer (ER 2) suggests Google wants to control the hardware partnerships rather than open the field the way it has with its Gemini APIs.