Open-Source Hardware (OSHW)

Hardware whose blueprints, parts list, and firmware are public for anyone to copy or modify.

Open-source hardware is hardware whose design files are made public under a license that lets others study, modify, manufacture, or even sell it. What's published usually includes CAD models, circuit schematics and PCB layouts, a bill of materials (BOM), assembly instructions, and firmware. The commonly used definition comes from the Open Source Hardware Association (OSHWA), and licenses include the CERN Open Hardware Licence. In embodied AI, open-source hardware has sharply lowered the barrier to entry: projects like ALOHA, the SO-100/SO-101 arm, LEAP Hand, Berkeley Humanoid Lite, and ToddlerBot all publish their blueprints and code, letting labs and individuals assemble their own using 3D-printed parts plus off-the-shelf motors, and letting other teams reproduce papers or share data collected on the same hardware platform.

ExampleThe SO-101 arm was open-sourced by TheRobotStudio and is built from 3D-printed structural parts and Feetech STS3215 servos; paired with Hugging Face's LeRobot, it can be teleoperated to collect data and train policies.

Also called

Open-Source Robot Hardware

Related

SO-100 / SO-101 Arm · ALOHA · LEAP Hand · Berkeley Humanoid Lite · LeRobot · 3D Printing (FDM / Resin SLA)

Sources

Open Source Hardware Definition | OSHWA
Open-source hardware - Wikipedia
TheRobotStudio/SO-ARM100 - GitHub

As of

2026-09