Nvidia Is Going All-In on Humanoid Robots: Here’s How to Invest

What just happened with Nvidia and robots?

Nvidia has unveiled the Isaac GR00T Reference Humanoid Robot, an open design pairing a Unitree H2 Plus body with Nvidia’s Jetson Thor compute and the Isaac GR00T platform of AI software and foundation models (the “brain”). It’s aimed at researchers for now and ships through Unitree in late 2026, but it puts the world’s biggest AI chip company at the centre of the robot race. CEO Jensen Huang calls humanoid robots a “multitrillion-dollar economic opportunity,” and the forecasts agree: Goldman Sachs sees the market at about US$38 billion by 2035 and Morgan Stanley the wider humanoid economy at US$5 trillion by 2050.

What are the Best ASX Stocks to invest in right now?

Can you buy a robot stock on the ASX?

Not directly. The firms building robots, like Nvidia, Tesla and Unitree, are listed overseas or not listed at all, so there’s no Australian version to buy. That leaves two ways in for ASX investors: a robot-themed ETF that holds the global names, or local companies that supply the parts robots need.

Which ASX ETFs give robot exposure?

An ETF is a single share that holds many companies at once. The Global X Humanoid Robotics ETF (ASX: HMND) is a new, first-of-its-kind fund built purely for this theme, tracking the Solactive Global Humanoid Robotics Index across about 30 global stocks. It launched in March 2026 and is still small, so it’s the most focused but most volatile option.

For something larger, the Global X ROBO Global Robotics & Automation ETF (ASX: ROBO) has tracked the broader robotics ecosystem since 2017, and the Betashares Global Robotics & AI ETF (ASX: RBTZ) offers a similar broad tilt. The catch: these are specialised funds whose prices swing with global tech sentiment, so check how much of each is really in robots before you buy.

What ASX stocks are the “picks and shovels”?

This is where Australia fits in. Every humanoid robot needs dozens of small motors that run on rare-earth magnets, which puts miners like Lynas (ASX: LYC) and Arafura (ASX: ARU) in the supply chain, on top of their electric-car and defence demand. BrainChip (ASX: BRN) makes low-power AI chips to run a robot’s thinking on the spot, and battery and lithium names help power the machines. The advantage: these stocks earn from more than robots, so you’re not betting on one trend.

What are the risks?

The theme is genuine but early. Robots could take longer to reach real-world use than the headlines suggest, contracts can slip, and many AI-linked stocks already trade at high prices. A spread-out position is safer than a big bet on any single name.

The Investor Takeaway

For most Australian investors, the simplest way to back humanoid robots today is a thematic ETF like HMND, ROBO or RBTZ, spreading your money across the global value chain rather than one stock. Those wanting a more grounded option can lean on the local enablers that benefit from robots while also earning elsewhere. Either way, build slowly and treat this as a long-term theme, not a quick trade. The investors who do best tend to buy in steadily before the next big robot headline, not chase the story after it has run.

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