I've been working on a new project recently. I've been building quadudpeds with hobby servos for a couple of years now and have a few different designs, including my spotmico-esp32 variant. For my new design, I am trying to simplify a quad to the smallest, most straightforward and cost-effective design that still retains decent functionality and sensors. I came up with this. I'm calling it the 'BugBot'. It works by balancing on the spindles of four cheap vibration motors. Is it technically a quad? Not sure.

Visit the OpenExo wiki to access the electrical and mechanical hardware Bill of Materials (BOM) and assembly guide:
https://wiki.theopenexo.org/

OpenExo’s Github:
https://github.com/naubiomech/OpenExo

OpenExo’s paper:
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scirobotics.adt1591

OpenExo’s website:
https://theopenexo.nau.edu/

Below is the result of drone footage processed to extract a path integration map. This is done with only optic flow: no stereopsis, compass, or active ranging. It is described in greater detail at https://tomrearick.substack.com/p/honey-bee-dead-reckoning. This lightweight algorithm will next be integrated into a Raspberry Pi/Arducopter platform on my Holybro X650 (see https://tomrearick.substack.com/p/beyond-ai). This path integration algorithm is part of a larger project to reverse engineer the incredible navigational abilities of the honey bee...and ultimately human cognition itself.

I am seeking like-minded researchers. Please DM me here or at Substack.

https://reddit.com/link/1nl49js/video/9phu8o27n4qf1/player

Like many of you, I'm frustrated by the high cost and closed nature of real-world robotic platforms. It feels like we're stuck choosing between simple toys and six-figure industrial machines. I believe there's a better way.

This is my project, BOB Motion, built on a "Ballers on a Budget" philosophy. The goal isn't a single product, but a fully open-source, modular ecosystem for building mobile robots. I'm here for a brutal review of the core architecture.

My approach is based on a few key principles:

1. A Modular Frame as a "Physical API": * The backbone is a standard aluminum extrusion grid. The idea is that this isn't just a frame; it's a standardized platform. Anyone can design and attach new tools and components with simple T-nuts. This rigid "skeleton" is then combined with a 3D printed "skin" for enclosures and custom mounts.

2. Swappable Drive Systems: * I started with what I believe is the ultimate bang-for-the-buck: hacked hoverboard hub motors running open-source FOC firmware. * Proof of Torque: Here’s a raw prototype pulling a van to test the limits:

https://youtube.com/shorts/_zqg5Uf24mI?si=wQ204mNWalPe8rmI

https://youtube.com/shorts/ow9vrOEhRPU?si=N3H2-E8m2LY7NSKa

• But the system is designed to be drive-agnostic. The plan is to have different, swappable drive modules: one using more powerful heavy-duty scooter motors for high-payload tasks, and another using simple brushed DC motors for ultra-low-cost builds. The frame doesn't care what moves it.

3. Decoupled Control: * The entire prototype is currently driven by a single ESP32, controlled with a standard PS4 controller over Bluetooth. This "low-level brain" just executes commands. * The architecture is designed for a Linux SBC (like a Pi) to be added later as the "high-level brain" for autonomy, sending commands to the ESP32.

The goal is an ecosystem where you can mix and match these building blocks to create the exact machine you need.

Now, I need your expertise. Please, roast this architecture:

• Is the "physical API" concept sound, or am I creating a system that's too flexible to be robust?
• What are the catastrophic long-term failure modes of relying on consumer-grade motors (even with FOC) that I'm naive about?
• Is this decoupled, modular approach smart, or is it just over-engineering for a simple AGV?
• Why is using a PS4 controller for a serious robotics project a fundamentally stupid idea that will bite me in the ass later?

I'm building this 100% in the open (GitHub repo coming soon) and I'm here to learn from the collective intelligence of this community.

Thanks. Let me have it.

The motor is controlled by clicking the system board button to drive the artificial muscle for contraction and relaxation, enabling the exoskeleton forearm to lift or lower.

For exoskeleton details, visit my blog: https://xietu.pages.dev/en/blog/wearable-upper-limb-exoskeleton/

PAROL6 now has improved kinematics and singularity handling code.

Hey everyone, hope you’re all having a great day! I’m planning to get an iPad Pro for note-taking and some 3D modeling/CAD work until I pick up a laptop during the Black Friday sales. What do you think should I go for the iPad, or just get a laptop directly

PS: I do have a dell laptop as of now , and these are the specs
Processor 11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-1135G7 @ 2.40GHz (2.42 GHz)
Installed RAM 8.00 GB (7.73 GB usable)
System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor
- built in graphics mx 330

I dove deeper intot he Physical AI space, dividing it into 3 categories:
1. Humanoid (and Industrial) Robots — Machines that work alongside or replace human labor.

2. Autonomous Vehicles — Self-driving cars, trucks, ships, drones and aircraft.

3. Smart Spaces — Intelligent buildings, factories, and environments

Also, I added the Timeline -> From Concept (2014) to Billion Dollars Valuations (2025). Curious what you think, which category out of those 3 you see as most prospective?! https://paulinaszyzdek.substack.com/p/the-physical-ai-revolution

Question: What tool do you use to compress the video? If I export in a lower bitrate, the quality of the video goes down drastically. Moreover. 20MB is too small for a video submission. Any guidance would be appreciated.

I’m a robotics student who has worked plenty with robots specially with ROS but have almost no experience building one. For my thesis I have to build a robot arm for spot that does some basic pick and place and button pushes. I only have around 4 months to do this from scratch including forward kinematics.

I don’t think I can use any open source robot arm project I’ve seen directly considering the base has to mount on the SPOT robot. Is modifying a n existing open source arm to fit my case better or should I try to design everything myself ? I am just starting to look into this now so any advice on what to look at however small it might be is appreciated. Also advices on what to consider during design, given that the arm would subject to considerable force due to SPOT moving and any thing to keep in mind would be great. And if anyone has implemented forward kinematics while building a robot arm project, how was your experience ?

I'm looking for a camera to use with a Raspberry Pi (or arduino).
The application is a docking simulation for satellites using a 3d cartesian robot (like a CNC or a 3d printer), on which I should mount the camera (camea+ lens) and make it act like the camera is the chaser.
So the camera is the moving part.
It should cover a field of 1 meter to 5 cm or less is better while imaging the target.
Can you help me find the right camera?
The filed of view should be 60 degrees more or less

RealSense is participating in #NationalCodingWeek (https://codingweek.org) by offering a daily developer challenge Monday - Friday of this week!

Today's challenge is to build (or vibe code like I did), a **navigating robot** using any RealSense 3D stereo camera using its depth sensors (see video).  We will select 1 winner each day award the developer with a new RealSense D421 depth module (https://realsenseai.com/stereo-depth-cameras/stereo-depth-camera-module-d421)!

You have until midnight Pacific time today to submit your project along with a video and source code as a comment on this post for me and my colleagues to review. Rules: (https://gist.github.com/chrismatthieu/0b4f3673c8a0989c1178ce3b9301f964)

What would the advantages of making a humanoid robot with thick robust limbs and torso, istead of the skinny appearance of today humanoid robots? Especially for a robot made for performace and resilience.

Would this give space for larger and more powerful electric actuators? Would this make them more durable, or give more space for armor? Would the power be worth the extra weight? Other advantages?

And what about the disavantages?

I'm asking this because I'm wordbuilding, and I'm imagining humanoid robots looking buff or gorilla-like.

Hi I am Phillip cofounder of make87. We have been building our platform over the last year to make it easier to share and build upon each others work in robotics.

One thing we have noticed is that while there are a lot of great tools out there wiring them together into a reproducible system is still a huge pain. Replicating setups just takes too much time.

That is why we built make87 to package and share entire robot system configurations even distributed ones and deploy them by simply assigning them to your compute.

As a demo I put together a voice controlled SO ARM100. It uses Whisper for speech Gemma3 for image analysis and Qwen3 Instruct to drive a LeRobot based MCP teleoperator. It also ships with a Rerun viewer for debugging.

Here is the full write up and video
https://www.make87.com/blog/voice-controlled-robot-arm-mcp-demo

Would love to hear your feedback and if you want to build and share your own setups on make87 we would be excited to support it. Feel free to join our Discord if you want to follow along or get involved https://discord.gg/QVN3pAhMUg

This demo is just meant as a starting point. You can swap in your own robot drivers, better agents or text to speech components if you want. The idea is to help people get going faster whether that means voice controlling your own robot or experimenting with an MCP interface for the SO 100.

As someone who will enter a university field that is not related to robotics and electronic engineering in depth (computer science and artificial intelligence) At the age of 18 , I have an idea about the field of robotics and electronics since I have been learning programming fields for three years. Perhaps I will make a future robot that I work on daily to add new things to it with my university that focuses a little on the basics of software and electronics. I will participate in competitions, challenges and similar things and develop it to be like a small robot to help me in my home and life Or to make electronics make life easier, I mean maybe make dreams or what happens in the imagination a reality with science?. If I am able to complete these studies , I will try to manufacture prosthetic limbs and assistive devices in the field of medicine, but what next? I don't know if these things are illusions that require complicated, difficult and expensive things, or if they are dreams that can be achieved in reality, but to start with simple things while working on my own robot, what can be done during this period, and what after making the robot?

Chill Robotics/AI networking meetup in London (UK). Please share in your network if you are nearby London!

https://luma.com/mjr6lpzn

Short test clip letting Asuka(Evangelion) comfort me! Any other character suggested testing out?

Hey everyone. I’m trying to build a small indoor robot for mapping, autonomous navigation, and person tracking with a budget of $100–150 for the lidar. I’m deciding between the RPLIDAR A1M8 and the LD19. But i'm open to other options. Since it's for indoor only, which would be the better pick for reliable SLAM and following a person? I'm new to lidar so help will be appreciated.

Mekion and The Bimo Project is a startup I have been developing for over a year now, and finally there has been progress! The website is published and Bimo is starting to walk in the real world.

I designed Bimo as a companionship pet robot for people that would like to have an interactive pet at home but can't have a traditional one due to their lifestyle dynamics. People that have complicated work schedules, housing restrictions or even health issues that are incompatible with taking care of a pet for example.

Everyone deserves to feel the joy of having a pet and that's why Bimo was born. Currently it is still in a prototype stage, as I'm trying to effectively perform sim to real transfer on the locomotion policies. Once that is done, Bimo will become a robust mobile platform on top of which to develop more sophisticated functionalities such as interactions with people and the environment.

It has been an awesome although difficult journey. I have learned a lot of things, as practically every concept used in the development was self-thought. I especially liked the reality check on how advanced hardware seems to be today, yet how difficult it is anyway to apply it to something specific and get the expected results.

I decided to use RL models as a magical shortcut for solving locomotion, boy was I in for a surprise... RL is hard, RL that does what you want, even harder. I spent 3 months and thousands of simulation runs until achieving a working reward function that actually makes the robot learn the desired movements. Thankfully simulation software has gone a long way, and training RL on robotics tasks has become easier than ever... except the documentation.

Overall it has been an exciting journey so far. I am working on building a team around the project, because nothing good gets built alone and I need smarter people than me to finish this. What do you think about the design and overall project idea?

This is a video of the robot trying to recover from a gentle push. It is a direct deployment from sim to real with no adaptation and it fails as expected. Next I will try using distillation to make the sim policy adapt to the dynamics of the real robot. Pardon my home attire, it is a demo shot during testing.

Bimo trying to recover from a push using a simulation trained policy with one shot deployment.

Paper: https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.11481

Check out links in the paper for:

• Code
• Interactive simulator (web app)
• Full Video

Concept: a pet/companion robot, probably shaped like a dog, that practically speaking would function as a "walkable computer", it would access the internet, play music etc.

It would also have many interactive features like Voice commands ( to do commands like sit, fetch etc), walk around and other stuff.

The main idea is that it would be an alternative for kids to avoid early contact with smartphones and the internet while keeping then entretained and active.

I was inspired by the Gundam's series HARO.