This Humanoid Robot Can Learn To Fight And Play Piano Just By Watching

Instead of creating a humanoid robot equipped with AI reasoning and neural networks, why not just teach it yourself?

Researchers at Stanford University have come up with a robot that can mimic your actions in real-time using a straightforward webcam setup.

They've named it HumanPlus. This innovative robot can learn to box, play the piano, hit back a ping pong ball, and even type just by copying human movements.

This approach to training a robot is far simpler than the methods used for more well-known models like Figure 01 or 1X’s Eve robot, which rely on natural language understanding.

Once the HumanPlus has been taught a sufficient range of movements, it builds up a comprehensive knowledge base.

This allows it to eventually perform tasks on its own. For now, the tasks it can handle autonomously are fairly basic, such as folding clothes or retrieving items from a shelf.

So, it’s unlikely that we’ll see HumanPlus being used in industrial settings like factories anytime soon.

Robots Made Easier

In contrast to other advanced robots like Boston Dynamics’ Atlas or Tesla’s Optimus bot, HumanPlus offers a more do-it-yourself approach to having an autonomous robot in your home.

However, putting together a HumanPlus isn't cheap. According to the researchers' detailed list of materials, the total cost can exceed $100,000 if you adhere to their exact specifications. 

The base of the robot is Unitree’s H1, enhanced with hands from Inspire-Robots and wrists from Robotis, plus a Razer webcam for vision.

This setup results in a robot that stands five feet nine inches tall and boasts 33 degrees of freedom.

The design of HumanPlus is open source, which means you can tweak it as needed, provided you have the necessary technical skills.

Zipeng Fu, one of the researchers, pointed out that the hardware required to remotely control HumanPlus costs just $50, a bargain compared to the more popular Meta Quest headset.

Build It Yourself

Since HumanPlus originated from a research paper, it’s not expected to hit the market anytime soon.

However, you can build your own version using a GitHub repository that the researchers have made available to the public.

If you’re looking to replicate the exact model created by the Stanford team, be prepared to invest at least $90,000 in Unitree’s H1 robot, which serves as the hardware platform. 

Alternatively, the company recently introduced a more budget-friendly model, the G1, starting at $16,000.

So instead of spending over $25,000 on Tesla’s upcoming Optimus bot, crafting your own HumanPlus could be a more cost-effective way to achieve an autonomous robot for your home.