Your Personal Open-Source Humanoid Robot for $8,999
How K-Scale Labs built a fully open-source humanoid robot in 5 months with a 15-person team, complete with sim-to-real RL training, Python SDK, and a vision to democratize robotics for everyone.
Our goal is to really solve general purpose robotics for everyone and open sourcing the entire stack to the entire world. So everyone will be benefiting from this really really useful technology instead of a few different companies.
— JX Mo, Founding Engineer, K-Scale Labs (00:00:55)
Price (4-6x cheaper)
Build time
Walking policy training
Discord community
Executive Summary
The Price Breakthrough
K-Scale Labs has built one of the cheapest humanoid robots on the market at just $8,999 — 4-6x cheaper than competitors like Tesla Optimus (~$60k) and Unitree (~$40k). This price point makes humanoid robotics accessible to developers, researchers, and enthusiasts for the first time.
Why it matters: "This will also be one of the cheapest humanoid robots on the market and it's ready for pre-order right now." (00:01:47)
Unprecedented Speed
Built in just 5 months by a 15-person team in Palo Alto, the Kbot (full-size humanoid) went from concept to pre-order in record time. A smaller version, Zbot, started as a hackathon project and is already in mass manufacturing.
Team efficiency: "Our team is about 15 people in Palo Alto. We're launching some robots in the next coming month." (00:01:13)
Fully Open Source
Every single piece of the stack is open source — hardware (CAD, electronics, PCB), software (MIT-licensed), and ML models. This is unprecedented in humanoid robotics, where most companies treat everything as proprietary.
The commitment: "Every single piece of the hardware, CAD design, electronics, PCB, software, uh machine learning models will be fully open sourced." (00:03:08)
Watch explanation (00:03:08)Price Disruption: 4-6x Cheaper
Before mass production
- Full aluminum body
- MIT Cheetah actuators
- Complete open source
- Pre-order now, Oct delivery
Next cheapest option
"The next cheapest option is probably at 40k which is the uni robot." (00:03:04)
Estimate per speaker
"I think the last time I heard Tesla Optimus is about 60K at least." (00:19:09)
Market Impact
At $9,000, humanoid robotics becomes accessible to individual developers and researchers for the first time. This is comparable to buying a high-end laptop or a used car — not an enterprise capital expenditure. This price point could democratize robotics like the PC democratized computing.
Technical Architecture: Simplicity First
Sim-to-Real via IP Address
The same Python interface works for both simulation and hardware. To deploy from sim to real, you just change the IP address.
"All you have to do between programming something in simulation and real is by changing the IP address. So you can prototype really really rapidly without having to worry about breaking the robot."
Watch (00:10:22)pip install kscales
No ROS setup required. Install the Python package, connect to the robot's IP, and start programming. Setup takes 1/10th the time of traditional robotics libraries.
"You can just install Python package like pip install kscales and you can start programming robot. You just connect to IP. It's very, very easy to use." (00:10:03)
Watch explanation~500 Lines for Walking Policy
Their RL framework abstracts away complexity. A complete walking policy is just ~500 lines of code, and training takes only 1-2 hours on a local GPU.
"The walking policy is about 500 lines of code with our abstraction. Training a walking policy roughly takes one hour to two hours." (00:11:44)
Watch (00:11:44)No ROS Philosophy
They deliberately avoided ROS due to its complexity. Instead, they built a simpler, Python-native experience that any developer can use.
"I've just had a pretty bad experience using it having to set up Ubuntu, you know, like I just want a robot I can just buy, open the box, it stands up and walks." (00:17:26)
Watch (00:17:26)Complete Open Source Stack
Every layer of the robot is fully open sourced under permissive licenses:
Top Quotes from the Talk
"Our goal is to really solve general purpose robotics for everyone and open sourcing the entire stack to the entire world. So everyone will be benefiting from this really really useful technology instead of a few different companies."
— JX Mo (00:00:55)
Watch moment"Every single piece of the hardware, CAD design, electronics, PCB, software, uh machine learning models will be fully open sourced."
— JX Mo (00:03:08)
Watch moment"Our end goal is basically to make the robot so easy to use. Um any developer could write apps for robots. It's almost like a app store."
— JX Mo (00:08:43)
Watch moment"For us, our really bet is be becoming the first US consumer robotics company like robot humanoid robotics company. A lot of companies like especially in the US are betting on like B2B."
— JX Mo (00:15:18)
Watch moment"Our current customers, we accidentally launched our robots like people accidentally started started buying our robots through our Shopify page. Um that was a complete mistake."
— JX Mo (00:15:31)
Watch moment"You can just install Python package like pip install kscales and you can start programming robot. You just connect to IP. It's very, very easy to use."
— JX Mo (00:10:03)
Watch momentKey Takeaways by Role
- Accessible RL platform: $9k hardware with 1-2 hour training times enables rapid experimentation
- Sim-to-real transfer: Same API, just change IP address — no hardware risk during development
- Open ML models: Complete RL framework and training code available for research
- Community: 5,000+ Discord members, monthly hackathons for collaboration
- No ROS required: Python-native experience, "pip install" setup in minutes
- Modular hardware: Swap end effectors, arms, legs, head as compute improves
- VR teleoperation: Intuitive remote control and data collection
- Proven actuators: MIT Cheetah actuators — reliable, well-understood hardware
- Speed: 5 months from concept to shipping with 15-person team
- Community-first: 5,000+ engaged users before official launch, discovered via "accidental" Shopify sales
- Open source strategy: Full-stack release creates platform ecosystem, accelerates innovation
- Consumer-first: B2C vs competitors' B2B focus creates different market dynamics
- Price disruption: 4-6x cheaper than competition opens mass market
- Market validation: Pull vs. demand — customers found them organically
- Platform play: "App store for robots" vision enables ecosystem moat
- Talent magnet: Open source + affordability attracts global developer community
Video Reference
Your Personal Open-Source Humanoid Robot for $8,999
JX Mo, Founding Engineer, K-Scale Labs
Duration: ~19 min
Event: AI Engineer Summit 2025
Video ID: BS92RdBvI90
Note: All timestamps in this analysis link to the exact moment in the video where the quote or insight appears. Click any "Watch" link to jump directly to that section.