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Robot Lab Options

The Robot Lab: Putting the "Physical" in Physical AI​

For the "Physical" part of the course, you have three tiers of options depending on your budget.

Use a quadruped (dog-like robot) or a robotic arm as a proxy for a humanoid. The software principles (ROS 2, VSLAM, Isaac Sim) transfer with about 90% effectiveness to humanoids.

  • Robot: Unitree Go2 Edu (~1,800−1,800 - 3,000).
  • Pros: Highly durable, excellent ROS 2 support, and affordable enough to have multiple units.
  • Cons: Not a biped (humanoid), so you won't be able to explore bipedal locomotion.

Option B: The "Miniature Humanoid" Approach​

These are small, table-top humanoids that provide a more authentic humanoid experience.

  • Robot:
    • Unitree G1 (~16k)orRobotisOP3(older,butstable, 16k) or Robotis OP3 (older, but stable, ~12k). The Unitree H1 is too expensive at $90k+.
    • Budget Alternative: Hiwonder TonyPi Pro (~$600).
  • Warning: The cheaper kits (like the Hiwonder) usually run on a Raspberry Pi, which cannot run NVIDIA Isaac ROS efficiently. You would use these primarily for kinematics (walking) and use the Jetson kits for the AI components.

Option C: The "Premium" Lab (Sim-to-Real Specific)​

If your goal is to deploy the capstone project to a real humanoid robot, this is the option for you.

  • Robot: Unitree G1 Humanoid.
  • Why: It is one of the few commercially available humanoids that can walk dynamically and has an SDK that is open enough for you to inject your own ROS 2 controllers.