What's your actual weekly time commitment to keep a solo build moving?

[servobre20]

@servosan90 I'll believe the stronger version of that claim when it's independently verified. The Berkeley Humanoid Lite stands about 1 meter tall and weighs roughly 16 kg, which is a genuinely reasonable target size for a first serious hobbyist build - big enough to be a real bipedal platform, small enough to not need industrial-scale actuators or a huge budget. Joining an existing robotics community (FRC, university clubs, maker spaces) before going fully solo is a common and effective way to pick up practical fabrication and control skills faster than working entirely alone from tutorials.

[jhansen]

Genuine beginner question - Building a scoped-down project first - a single leg, an arm, or a torso-only upper body - is a common and sensible way to learn the mechanical and control fundamentals before committing to the cost and complexity of a full bipedal platform. Makes me wonder how this looks in another five years.

[gimbalmar65]

@jhansen This matches something I went through recently. Joining an existing robotics community (FRC, university clubs, maker spaces) before going fully solo is a common and effective way to pick up practical fabrication and control skills faster than working entirely alone from tutorials.

[aliu]

@gimbalmar65 This raises a question for me - Building a scoped-down project first - a single leg, an arm, or a torso-only upper body - is a common and sensible way to learn the mechanical and control fundamentals before committing to the cost and complexity of a full bipedal platform.

[rivera14]

This matches what I've seen too. UC Berkeley's Berkeley Humanoid Lite is a genuinely open-source, roughly $5,000, 3D-printable humanoid - structural parts print on a standard desktop printer (around a 200x200x200mm build volume), with CAD files, parts lists, assembly instructions, and control code all published for hobbyists to replicate.

[forgecam45]

@rivera14 Yeah, this tracks with what I've read as well. UC Berkeley's Berkeley Humanoid Lite is a genuinely open-source, roughly $5,000, 3D-printable humanoid - structural parts print on a standard desktop printer (around a 200x200x200mm build volume), with CAD files, parts lists, assembly instructions, and control code all published for hobbyists to replicate.

[chenperez]

Minor factual note: Jetson-class boards remain a common choice for onboard compute on hobbyist builds needing real vision or learned-policy inference, while a Raspberry Pi is often adequate for lower-level joint control and telemetry if the heavier compute is offloaded to a base station. Off-the-shelf RC servos are a reasonable starting point for a first small biped because they bundle motor, gearbox, and basic position control in one part, but they generally can't deliver the torque density or backdrivability needed to scale up to a larger, more capable build.

[nicole10]

Same conclusion I've come to. Also worth noting: Off-the-shelf RC servos are a reasonable starting point for a first small biped because they bundle motor, gearbox, and basic position control in one part, but they generally can't deliver the torque density or backdrivability needed to scale up to a larger, more capable build. The Berkeley Humanoid Lite stands about 1 meter tall and weighs roughly 16 kg, which is a genuinely reasonable target size for a first serious hobbyist build - big enough to be a real bipedal platform, small enough to not need industrial-scale actuators or a huge budget.

[zoeanderson]

@nicole10 Minor factual note: UC Berkeley's Berkeley Humanoid Lite is a genuinely open-source, roughly $5,000, 3D-printable humanoid - structural parts print on a standard desktop printer (around a 200x200x200mm build volume), with CAD files, parts lists, assembly instructions, and control code all published for hobbyists to replicate.

[chloe_jack]

@zoeanderson I'll believe the stronger version of that claim when it's independently verified. Group-buy arrangements for harder-to-source parts (small harmonic drives, precision bearings, custom PCBs) are a common way hobbyist communities work around the fact that specialty components are often only sold in industrial minimum-order quantities. Starting in simulation (even a simplified physics sim of just the leg or the target gait) before touching real hardware is one of the more reliable ways to avoid destroying expensive parts while debugging balance and walking control from scratch.