ToddlerBot
ToddlerBot is a 56 cm, 3.4 kg open source humanoid from Stanford University designed as a low cost platform for machine learning research on locomotion and manipulation. It has 30 degrees of freedom, is built from 3D printed parts and Dynamixel servos, and includes a full simulation and teleoperation pipeline. Everything needed to build it is public.
We have not sat down with this one. The score below is computed from the data we hold, and the facts on this page are sourced. It is not on sale, so there is nothing to recommend.
How the score is built
Capability is what the machine physically does. Value compares it with others at a similar price, not with the whole market. Buyability asks whether you can really order one. Ecosystem is the software and community around it. Proof is what it has done in the field, which is where most humanoids score badly and should.
Similar money, different machine.
- Status
- Research
- Category
- research
- First revealed
- February 2025
- Form
- bipedal
- Height
- 56 cm
- Weight
- 3.4 kg
- Payload
- n/a
- Degrees of freedom
- 30
- Battery
- n/a
- Runtime
- n/a
- Walking speed
- n/a
- Actuation
- electric, Dynamixel servos
- Units deployed (est.)
- not disclosed
- Teleoperation
- yes
Where it stands
Open source design from Stanford that labs can build for about 6,000 dollars; not sold as a product.
What stands out
- 30 degrees of freedom in a 3.4 kg body
- Full open source hardware and software
- Built to be reproducible by other labs
Autonomy, observed
Paper shows learned walking, push ups and manipulation tasks trained from teleoperated demonstrations
A second identical robot is used as a leader for teleoperation data
Hands, sensors, brain
- Hands: simple 3D printed grippers
- Sensors: cameras, IMU, joint encoders
- Compute: onboard single board computer
- AI stack: reinforcement learning locomotion and imitation learning manipulation, with teleoperation via a leader arm
Price and volume
bill of materials about 6,000 dollars
Open source
Hardware, firmware and learning code on GitHub
Open-source humanoids: what you can actually build
24 of the 182 humanoids on record call themselves open source. 15 publish hardware files and software, 3 name a licence, 12 can be ordered, and none of the four on preorder has any autonomy evidence yet.
Startups, automakers, universities: who builds humanoids
108 makers, nine kinds. Startups hold 37 of the 44 humanoids you can order. Automakers, universities, big tech, conglomerates and NASA hold 45 robots between them and sell none of them.
Other robots by Stanford University.
Sources
- 01ToddlerBotStanford University
- 02ToddlerBot: Open-Source ML-Compatible Humanoid PlatformarXiv · 2025-02
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