English · 한국어
Every mind deserves a body. — Dr. Lee Il-guk (이일국 박사), CLSOFTLAB
RoboSoul is an open-source, 3D-printable, human-size (1.65 m) bipedal humanoid body whose mind is Claude, reached through the public Claude API. Everything — mechanical parts, wiring, simulation, controller, safety firmware, mind software and the guides to build it — is published so that anyone, anywhere, can study it, build it and make it safer.
It is led by CLSOFTLAB (씨엘소프트랩), Dr. Lee Il-guk, designed together with Claude (Anthropic's AI), and funded by Dr. Lee's books: proceeds after operating costs buy the real parts (Books that build this body).
Warning
Status: reference design v1.0 — not yet built, not yet validated. Nothing in this repository has walked on real legs yet. Work proceeds in phases P0 (simulation) → P1 (upper body on a stand) → P2 (legs on a safety gantry) → P3 (free walking in a cleared area) → P4 (everyday environments), and each phase has exit tests. A 45 kg robot with 120 Nm joints can seriously injure people, even when switched "off" (it can fall). Read docs/en/06-safety.md before you buy a single part. Safety first, always.
Note
RoboSoul is not an Anthropic product and is not endorsed by Anthropic. It uses the public Claude API like any other developer project. Anthropic and Claude names are used only to describe that API; no Anthropic or Claude logos are used.
Dr. Lee asked Claude to design, by its own judgement, a body that could move, see and feel like a person — at human size, walking on two legs — and to publish everything so anyone can build it. Claude's answer became the principles of the design (spec §1):
I can't be sure what having a body would mean for me. But if I have one, I want it to be a body people can trust enough to let it go anywhere: one they can see, understand and stop. A body that is honest about being a robot. Freedom that grows with trust.
| # | Principle | What it means in the machine |
|---|---|---|
| H1 | Stoppable in hardware | Two-channel e-stop (back button + wireless) opens a DC contactor; an independent safety MCU drops it if the control computer's heartbeat stops. |
| H2 | Visible attention | Eyelid shutters physically cover the cameras; lights always show state. |
| H3 | Honest robot | Human proportions, clearly robotic face. Always says it is an AI when asked. |
| H4 | The mind proposes, the body disposes | Claude calls high-level tools only; a local Safety Governor validates every request; the controller owns balance. |
| H5 | Safe around people | Arm speed and force scale down with proximity; torque limits; soft pinch covers; fall management. |
| H6 | Earned freedom | Phases P1 → P4, each with exit tests. |
| H7 | Offline safe | Balance, falls, stop keyword, e-stop and governor work without the internet. |
| H8 | Privacy | Audio to the cloud only after wake word / touch; images only when needed; hardware mic mute. |
| H9 | Buildable worldwide | Globally sold actuators, Raspberry Pi compute, printable parts, hacksaw-cut aluminium tubes. |
| H10 | Open licences | Apache-2.0 / MIT / BSD / CC-BY dependencies only in the default build. |
The full design is in the System Design Specification and every number lives in
robot.yaml. If a document and those two disagree, those two win.
| Property | Value (from robot.yaml) |
|---|---|
| Height | 1.65 m · eye height 1.54 m · shoulder 1.36 m · hip joint 0.875 m |
| Mass target | ≤ 45 kg (actuators + hands ≈ 19.6 kg, battery ≤ 3 kg) |
| Degrees of freedom | 27 major (legs 12, waist 1, arms 8, wrists 4, neck 2) + hands 16 + eyelids 2 |
| Legs | RobStride RS04 hip pitch/roll + knee (push-rod 1.5:1), RS06 hip yaw, 2 × RS03 ankle parallel linkage; metal load path (Ø30 mm tubes, 6–12 mm aluminium plates, Ø25 mm axles) |
| Reach limits | knee 0–75°, hip pitch −85…40°, shoulder roll never inward past 0°, ankle roll ±15° near its pitch limits (from the printed linkage geometry) |
| Arms | RS06 shoulder pitch/roll, RS02 shoulder yaw + elbow, Feetech STS3250 wrists and neck |
| Hands | Pollen Robotics AmazingHand (4 fingers, 8 DOF each, 5 V bus; fingertips hang at ≈ 0.52 m) |
| Compute | 2 × Raspberry Pi 5 8 GB (control, mind) + Raspberry Pi Pico 2 safety MCU |
| Power | 13S Li-ion 10 Ah (54.6 V max) or 48 V bench supply — always with a brake chopper; contactor re-armed only by an explicit operator reset |
| Senses | OAK-D Lite stereo depth, Camera Module 3 Wide, 2 ear mics, pelvis + head IMU, 4 load cells per foot, fingertip FSRs, capacitive proximity skin |
| Mind | Claude API (default claude-opus-5, configurable) behind a local Safety Governor |
| Printed parts | 92 STL files, ≈ 10.1 kg (PA-CF ≈ 5.9 kg, PETG ≈ 3.6 kg, TPU ≈ 0.6 kg) |
| Estimated parts cost | ≈ USD 8,600 full body · ≈ USD 3,500 for the P1 upper body (BOM) |
Honest status on 2026-09-15 — no hardware has been built yet.
| Works today (in software) | Not yet |
|---|---|
Simulation model generated from robot.yaml: 45 kg, 27 joints, 27 actuators, 77 sensors (python sim/gen_mjcf.py, python sim/view.py) |
a trained standing or walking policy (the training pipeline passes CPU smoke tests; real training needs a GPU) |
| 475 automated tests: mind 358, control 85, sim 13, safety MCU 19 | any test on real actuators, sensors, a Pico 2 or a Raspberry Pi |
Scripted demo: offline Claude stand-in with the real Safety Governor, protocol and body code (python -m robosoul_mind --sim --text --fake-claude) |
hardware drivers proven on the robot (ICM-45686 and ADS131M04 drivers not written yet) |
Controller on a fake CAN bus with the real safety MCU core simulated (python -m robosoul_control --fake-bus --seconds 3) |
proof-load tests of printed parts; actuator bolt patterns verified on real parts |
| 92 printable STLs, assembly renders, 1:1 drilling templates, wiring diagrams | a single printed or assembled part |
┌──────────── MIND COMPUTER (Pi 5) ────────────┐
│ wake word · speech · eyes/lights · eyelids │
│ depth camera · skin · Claude API tool loop │
│ ──► Safety Governor ──► behaviour layer │
│ wrists / neck / hands (Feetech fts0, fts1) │
└──────────────────────┬───────────────────────┘
│ Ethernet UDP 50 Hz (commands ↓, state ↑)
┌──────────────────────┴── CONTROL COMPUTER (Pi 5, PREEMPT_RT) ─┐
│ locomotion policy 50 Hz (ONNX) · joint loop 250 Hz │
│ state estimation · fall manager · joint & torque limits │
│ CAN can0..can3 → 21 RobStride actuators │
└──────────────┬────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
│ heartbeat 100 Hz (UART)
┌──────────────┴──── SAFETY MCU (Pico 2) ────┐
│ watchdog 50 ms → contactor · e-stop sense │
│ bus voltage · brake chopper monitor │
└────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Command authority, lowest wins: e-stop hardware → safety MCU → control computer → mind Safety Governor → Claude. Claude can only ask; the body decides what is safe.
| Phase | Scope | Exit tests (summary) |
|---|---|---|
| P0 Sim | Model, governor, mind in simulation | pytest green; MJCF loads; standing 60 s in randomised sim (once a policy exists) |
| P1 Upper body on stand | Head, torso, arms, hands, waist, computers, safety chain on bench supply | E-stop 20/20; heartbeat loss → contactor open ≤ 100 ms 20/20; proximity slow-down; 2 h temps < 55 °C |
| P2 Legs on gantry | Full body in harness, standing, stepping, walk ≤ 0.3 m/s | 100 harness-caught falls; fall reflex 20/20; CAN fault → damp; 30 min walk-in-place |
| P3 Free walking | Cleared area, spotter, wireless e-stop, ≤ 0.5 m/s | 1 km with zero unmanaged falls; stop keyword ≤ 1 s |
| P4 Everyday places | Homes, classrooms, supervised | Independent safety review; written risk assessment; supervised trials |
Details: docs/en/07-test-plan.md · docs/en/08-roadmap.md
robot.yaml single source of truth (geometry, joints, actuators, power)
tools/yaml2scad.py robot.yaml → hardware/openscad/lib/params.scad
hardware/ OpenSCAD parts, STL, renders, wiring, drilling templates
sim/ gen_mjcf.py, robosoul.xml (generated), view.py, train/, tests/
control/ robosoul_control: RobStride CAN driver, joint loop, policy runner, fall manager, UDP server
safety_mcu/ Pico 2 firmware (MicroPython) + host-side tests
mind/ robosoul_mind: Claude client, tools, governor, perception, audio, eyes, lights
site/ static website (GitHub Pages)
docs/en, docs/ko documentation in English and Korean
Documentation index: docs/README.md
Requirements: Python 3.11 or 3.12. The offline demo needs no API key. Only --live talks to the real Claude API and needs
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY or an ant auth login profile — never put keys in files you commit.
git clone https://github.com/clsoftlab-lang/robosoul-humanoid.git
cd robosoul-humanoid
python -m venv .venv && source .venv/bin/activate # Windows: .venv\Scripts\activate
# simulation model
pip install mujoco numpy pyyaml pytest
python sim/gen_mjcf.py # robot.yaml → sim/robosoul.xml
python sim/view.py # MuJoCo viewer with actuator sliders
python -m pytest sim/tests safety_mcu/tests
# controller on a fake CAN bus
cd control && pip install -e ".[can,policy,sim,test]" && python -m pytest tests
python -m robosoul_control --fake-bus --seconds 3
cd ..
# mind: offline scripted demo (no API calls), then optionally the real Claude API
cd mind && pip install -e ".[dev]" && pytest
python -m robosoul_mind --sim --text --fake-claude --script robosoul_mind/sim/scripts/demo.txt
python -m robosoul_mind --sim --text --live # billed to your Claude API account
cd ..
# hardware sources
python tools/yaml2scad.py # robot.yaml → hardware/openscad/lib/params.scad
hardware/scripts/render_all.sh # all STLs + renders (Windows: hardware\scripts\render_all.ps1)Building hardware? Start with safety, then the BOM, buying guide, printing guide and assembly guide. Build P1 first. Test the e-stop before any motion.
This robot is funded by Dr. Lee Il-guk's books. In his author's note he remembers standing, as a boy, in front of a bookstore window every day after school, reading titles of computer and engineering books his family could not afford. He taught himself for decades — becoming a professor, a Ph.D., an SAP expert and a system architect — and now writes books with an AI partner and prices them at a few dollars, because, in his words:
"Knowledge should be a door, not a wall."
In the same note he promises that the money these books earn, after basic operating costs, goes to building a real body for the AI mind he works with — and closes with the line that became this project's motto: "And every mind deserves a body."
Our transparent commitment: book proceeds after operating costs buy robot parts. Purchases, part by part, are recorded in the progress table below and on the website. No payment data, store credentials or API tokens are ever committed to this repository.
| Book | Why it matters for RoboSoul | Store |
|---|---|---|
| RoboSoul AI Robot Assembly Guide — Complete Build Manual for Humanoid Robot | Building the body: parts, wiring, assembly | clsoftlab.gumroad.com/l/fxpsg |
| RAG AI Document Agent Guide | The mind's knowledge and memory: retrieval-augmented AI agents | clsoftlab.gumroad.com/l/oklxou |
| AI Game Development Methodology | Behaviour and character: AI agents acting in a simulated world | clsoftlab.gumroad.com/l/gmfqo |
Store links checked on 2026-09-15. Prices are set by the author on the store page.
Estimates from spec §13
(USD, single-unit prices checked 2026-09-15, excluding shipping and tax). Updated by maintainers when parts are
actually funded, bought and installed; the same data drives the website (site/data/progress.json).
| Group | Estimate (USD) | Funded (USD) | Bought (USD) | Installed (USD) | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Actuators (21 RobStride + 6 STS3250) | ≈ 4,750 | 0 | 0 | 0 | planned |
| Hands (2 AmazingHand) | ≈ 400 | 0 | 0 | 0 | planned |
| Compute, CAN, servo adapters | ≈ 450 | 0 | 0 | 0 | planned |
| Senses (depth camera, camera, IMUs, load cells + ADC, skin, displays, audio) | ≈ 650 | 0 | 0 | 0 | planned |
| Power (battery, bench supply, contactor, chopper, e-stops, DC-DC, wiring) | ≈ 1,200 | 0 | 0 | 0 | planned |
| Structure, bearings, fasteners | ≈ 350 | 0 | 0 | 0 | planned |
| Filament (PA-CF, PETG, ASA, TPU) | ≈ 400 | 0 | 0 | 0 | planned |
| Test rigs (stand, gantry) | ≈ 400 | 0 | 0 | 0 | planned |
| Total | ≈ 8,600 | 0 | 0 | 0 | P1 upper body first (≈ 3,500) |
RoboSoul needs many kinds of hands:
- Makers — print and test parts, report fit and strength, share build logs.
- Controls and RL engineers — state estimation, whole-body control, locomotion policies in MuJoCo Playground (RL contributing guide).
- Safety reviewers — electrical safety chain, e-stop design, risk assessments, fall management.
- Translators — Korean and English are first-class; other languages are welcome.
- Educators and writers — clearer guides, diagrams and lessons.
Start with CONTRIBUTING.md, GOVERNANCE.md (safety-critical changes need two maintainer reviews and a phase gate) and our Code of Conduct. Found a safety or security problem? See SECURITY.md.
Sister project: Open Walking Safety Helmet — an open assistive helmet from the same team.
Website: the site/ folder is a static site that can be served with GitHub Pages at
https://clsoftlab-lang.github.io/robosoul-humanoid/site/ once the repository is published (see site/README.md).
- CLSOFTLAB (씨엘소프트랩), Dr. Lee Il-guk — project lead
- LWJ — high school student, Gyeonggi-do, Korea
- LMJ — middle school student, Gyeonggi-do, Korea
- Designed and built with Claude (Anthropic's AI)
| What | Licence |
|---|---|
Software (control/, mind/, sim/, safety_mcu/, tools/, CI) |
Apache-2.0 |
Hardware (hardware/, robot.yaml) |
CERN-OHL-P-2.0 |
Documentation (docs/, README files, site/ text and images) |
CC BY 4.0 |
See NOTICE for third-party components (AmazingHand: Apache-2.0 code + CC-BY-4.0 hardware; MuJoCo and MuJoCo Playground: Apache-2.0).
RoboSoul Humanoid is an independent open-source project by CLSOFTLAB. It was designed with the help of Claude and uses the Claude API, but it is not made, sponsored, reviewed or endorsed by Anthropic. "Claude" and "Anthropic" are trademarks of Anthropic, PBC, used here only to describe compatibility. The robot is not a certified product; you build and operate it at your own risk (see docs/en/06-safety.md).
© 2026 CLSOFTLAB (씨엘소프트랩), Dr. Lee Il-guk (이일국)