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SmartBot Labs

Humanoid robot · Menlo Research · Singapore

Asimov 1

An open-source humanoid you build yourself: a 1.2 m, 25-joint robot sold as a $20,000 kit, with every design file published.

Illustration, not a photo

Price

From $20,000

Official price

$20,000 for the DIY kit on Menlo's order page. Menlo says shipping and tariffs are covered in most countries, though the final price can vary by destination. An assembled robot is available by asking sales, with no public price.

Availability

Pre-order

Taking $499 deposits for the next production batch (Batch 4, still forming). Menlo gives no delivery date.

Order on menlo.ai ↗

Last checked October 21, 2026 · confirm before you buy

Versions and prices

VersionPriceNotes
DIY kit$20,000You assemble it; Menlo estimates about 20 hours
AssembledAsk salesContact sales

Specs

Height
About 1.2 m (3.94 ft)
Weight
About 35 kg (77 lb)
Powered joints
25: 6 per leg, 5 per arm, 1 waist, 2 neck
Arm payload
5 kg per arm rated, up to 15 kg peak
Sensors
IMU, monocular camera, stereo microphone array, speaker
Compute
Radxa CM5 (motion control) + Raspberry Pi 5 (head, media and networking)
Battery
13S4P lithium-ion
Software
Walking policy in firmware, remote teleoperation, direct actuator control via SDK, MuJoCo and URDF models
License
Hardware CERN-OHL-S-2.0; Isaac Lab training framework BSD-3-Clause

Specs as published by Menlo Research. We list only figures we could source.

What to know

Asimov 1 comes from Menlo Research, a Singapore company. Its pitch is openness: the mechanical and electrical CAD, simulation models, firmware and bill of materials are public, the hardware is under the CERN-OHL-S-2.0 license, and you can repair or extend it with parts you source yourself.

Menlo's founders say they built it after their Unitree G1 broke a small part and they waited about two months for a closed-source replacement. Asimov is aimed at the same researchers and startups as the G1, but you assemble it from a kit. Menlo estimates about 20 hours of build time; expect longer if you have never built a robot.

It ships with a walking policy. Menlo's docs describe training new policies in Isaac Lab or MJLab and running them on the robot with no extra tuning. Full-body teleoperation and the complete SDK are still listed as in development or coming soon, and there are no hands as standard.

On Product Hunt, where it launched in October 2026, commenters praised the open-source approach. Others asked about stair climbing (Menlo says the community is working on it), how easy it is to train new tasks, and shipping to countries such as the UAE and Thailand, which Menlo says it now covers.

Good for

  • Robotics startups and labs that want hardware they can open up and fix
  • Researchers training locomotion policies in simulation
  • Builders comfortable assembling a complex kit

Watch out for

  • You build it yourself unless you arrange an assembled unit with sales
  • No delivery date for the current batch
  • Hands, full-body teleoperation and the full SDK are not ready yet
  • Battery runtime is not published

FAQ

Questions people ask

How much does the Asimov 1 cost?

The Asimov 1 costs From $20,000. $20,000 for the DIY kit on Menlo's order page. Menlo says shipping and tariffs are covered in most countries, though the final price can vary by destination. An assembled robot is available by asking sales, with no public price.

Can you buy the Asimov 1?

Taking $499 deposits for the next production batch (Batch 4, still forming). Menlo gives no delivery date.

How tall is the Asimov 1?

About 120 cm (3 ft 11 in), according to Menlo Research.

Receipts

Sources

Other humanoid robots