Robotics startup Sharpa used stay demonstrations at CES 2026 to showcase advances in autonomous wonderful manipulation, unveiling a brand new full-body robotic and an AI mannequin designed to enhance how robots work together with objects.
On the occasion in Las Vegas, Sharpa’s newly launched robotic, North, performed absolutely autonomous video games of ping-pong towards human opponents all through the present.
Somewhat than counting on pre-scripted demonstrations, the corporate ran stay classes for eight hours a day over 4 consecutive days, drawing giant crowds because the rallies continued.
Sharpa stated the demonstrations had been supposed to spotlight progress in real-world manipulation somewhat than staged movement or acrobatics.
Reside demonstrations spotlight long-horizon autonomy
Along with ping-pong, North carried out a sequence of autonomous duties together with images, windmill meeting, and card dealing.
In line with the corporate, the windmill meeting job required greater than 30 consecutive profitable steps, making it one of many longest-horizon autonomous manipulation demonstrations proven publicly so far.
Throughout the occasion, North captured greater than 2,000 prompt pictures and assembled greater than 300 windmills. The demonstrations circulated broadly on social media and attracted consideration from robotics builders and researchers.
Sharpa expects to launch a manufacturing model of North in mid-2026.
Dexterous hand enters manufacturing
The CES demonstrations had been powered by Wave, a dexterous robotic hand launched by Sharpa in Could 2025. Wave options 22 lively levels of freedom, is constructed at a one-to-one human scale, and features a proprietary tactile sensing system. The corporate stated the hand entered mass manufacturing and commenced transport in October 2025.
Alicia Veneziani, Sharpa’s world vp of go-to-market and president of Europe, stated: “Robots can already dance and backflip, however manipulation stays the true bottleneck for helpful, autonomous robots. At Sharpa, we concentrate on productiveness from day one, which is why we began with the toughest half, the hand.”
Introducing CraftNet for wonderful manipulation
Alongside the {hardware} demonstrations, Sharpa launched CraftNet, an end-to-end hierarchical VTLA (imaginative and prescient–tactile–language–motion) mannequin designed to assist wonderful manipulation duties.
CraftNet is constructed on Sharpa’s multi-system manipulation structure, which the corporate says is impressed by how people mix reflexive responses with higher-level reasoning.
The system separates management into two layers: an “Interplay Mind” for contact-level responses and a “Movement Mind” for coordinated motion, with a concentrate on what Sharpa describes as “last-millimeter” precision.
The corporate stated it should launch updates on CraftNet in phases.
Deal with sensible deployment
Sharpa positions its work round the concept that enhancing wonderful manipulation is essential to transferring robots from demonstrations into on a regular basis use.
The corporate sees potential functions throughout sectors together with retail, hospitality, and meals service, with longer-term ambitions for home environments.
Sharpa describes its mission as follows: “We manufacture time by making robots helpful.”
The corporate was co-founded by Shaoqing Xiang, David Li, and Kai Solar, and employs greater than 100 folks globally. Sharpa was based in 2024 and is headquartered in Singapore, with enterprise operations in america and manufacturing and R&D amenities in China.
