Dropbear

A humanoid you can build, understand, and make your own.

Dropbear is a full-size humanoid robotics project by Hyperspawn and Pointblank. Mechanical designs, printable parts, robot models, and control research give you places to start across the whole robot—from a single assembly on your workbench to locomotion experiments in simulation.

The aim is to make building and using a humanoid feel approachable: find the parts, see how they fit, try a movement, understand what happened, and keep improving it. The platform brings the build and robot tools into one place.

Open the platform → · Try the simulator · Explore the hardware · Join the community

Start with something you can do today

You can begin with a head, an arm, or a simulated robot. Each is a useful project in its own right.

Connected robot control and firmware

Use robit-man/dropbear_control for the browser digital twin, live USB leg observation, raw serial diagnostics, controller health, and guarded firmware compilation/upload. Its physical command channel remains locked behind staged acknowledgements; live observation starts as receive-only.

git clone https://github.com/robit-man/dropbear_control.git
cd dropbear_control
python3 web/serve.py 8000

Open http://localhost:8000/?live=1&renderer=swiftshader. Select Connected ESP32 devices to inspect both leg streams, compile a trusted firmware source, or review an upload before its physical safety interlock is released.

The controller sources live in Control System/Low Level Control:

Read the low-level firmware guide and Behemoth role/commissioning guide before selecting an image. The tracked partitions.csv gives the application 2.5 MiB while retaining the Arduino default SPIFFS settings region at 0x290000. The dropbear_control uploader reads the connected ESP32 partition table first and refuses a mismatched layout.

From files to a robot on your workbench

The design is split into subassemblies so you can inspect, print, assemble, and revise one part at a time. The hardware repository includes full-robot STEP and Fusion archives, alongside separate arms, legs, head, pelvis, and torso designs. The print repository organizes parts and plates by assembly.

Right arm and right leg CAD renders from the hardware repository.

1. Choose your assembly. Use the Workshop and CAD files to understand the parts and how they connect.
2. Plan the parts and prints. Review the bill of materials, then select the matching print files and settings. You can print them yourself or use a print service.
3. Assemble and document. Follow the relevant assembly documentation. Keep track of the design revision, substitutions, and anything the next builder should know.
4. Bring up one subsystem at a time. Review the current low-level control source and use dropbear_control for versioned observation, health, compile, and guarded upload. Establish wiring, joint directions, limits, and calibration before attempting coordinated motion.

Build files, documentation, and control software are evolving at different speeds. Match revisions across them before ordering parts or powering an assembly. Use the BOM to develop a budget for your chosen configuration and local suppliers.

Walking you can inspect and reproduce

The Dropbear locomotion project publishes an Isaac Lab training environment, robot USD, policy checkpoints, evaluation reports, and an interactive viewer. You can load a policy, steer a simulated Dropbear, inspect its motion, and continue training.

Isaac Lab simulation, with a training environment mirrored into the live viewer.

The published v0.1.0 flat-ground policy completed 128 simulation trials with zero falls: 32 each for forward, backward, left, and right commands. Each trial ran for 20 seconds on a plane, with pushes disabled and a commanded speed of 0.20 m/s. Backward and lateral speed tracking remain areas for improvement. Read the evaluation results.

The v0.2.0 terrain checkpoint is experimental, adding terrain observations and low-obstacle training. These are simulation releases; physical walking and robustness require separate validation.

Run the locomotion quick start →

Find the part of the project you need

This repository is the project’s front door and contains the original hardware, software, and media. More focused work lives in the repositories below.

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