Hugging Face Launches the SO-101, an Upgraded Low-Cost 3D-Printable Autonomous Robot Arm
Developed by RobotStudio, the SO-101 is an upgraded, easier-to-build version of the popular SO-ARM100 design.
Artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI and ML) specialist Hugging Face has announced a new string to its LeRobot open source embodied intelligence robotics framework, developed in partnership with RobotStudio: a next-generation low-cost 3D-printable robot arm, the SO-101 — which the company says can be built for as little as $130.
"The SO‑101 is the next‑generation version of the SO‑100 robot arm, originally designed by the RobotStudio in collaboration with Hugging Face," the company explains of the new desktop arm design. "It has improved wiring, is easier to assembly (no gear removal), and uses updated motors for the leader arm. These arms are designed to work seamlessly with the open‑source LeRobot library."
The original SO-100, also known as the SO-ARM100, was the focus of our recent Embodied AI Hackathon, held in partnership with Hugging Face, Seeed Studio, NVIDIA, and Circuit Launch. It also served as proof of Hugging Face's desire to dig deeper into the world of robotics — exemplified by its recent acquisition of humanoid robotics startup Pollen Robotics.
Like its predecessor, the SO-101 is designed to be affordable and accessible: the company claims it can be trained for autonomous operation in minutes from any consumer desktop or laptop. For those who are looking for something truly autonomous, meanwhile, the arm is designed to be compatible with LeKiwi — a three-wheeled mobile base with an embedded Raspberry Pi single-board computer for complete independence.
While Hugging Face has estimated the cost of the non-3D-printed parts required for an SO-101 at around $130, there is also the option to buy an off-the-shelf version: Seeed Studio has opened pre-orders for the SO-101 motor kit at $220, down from a planned $240, with the 3D-printed parts available for an additional $35 on top.
For those looking to build one from scratch, a bill of materials and instructions are available on the SO-ARM100 GitHub repository under the permissive Apache 2.0 license.