OpenPyRo-A1: An Open Python-Based Low-Cost Bimanual Robot for Embodied AI

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Helong Huang, Christopher E. Mower, Guowei Huang, Sarthak Das, Magnus Dierking, Guangyuan Luo, Kai Tan, Xi Chen, Yehai Yang, Yingbing Chen, Yiming Zeng, Yinchuan Li, Zhanpeng Zhang, Shuang Wu, Yingxue Zhang, Weichao Qiu, Tongtong Cao, Mian Qin, Sajjad Pakdamansavoji, Yuecheng Liu et al. (6 additional authors not shown)

Published: 2026, Last Modified: 19 Jan 2026IEEE Robotics Autom. Lett. 2026EveryoneRevisionsBibTeXCC BY-SA 4.0
Abstract: Many real-world tasks, such as assembly, cooking, and object handovers, require bi-manual coordination. Learning such skills via imitation remains challenging due to dataset scarcity, mainly caused by the high cost of bi-manual robotic platforms and barriers to entry in robotics software. To address these challenges, we introduce (1) OpenPyRo-A1, a low-cost, bi-manual humanoid robot priced at approximately $14 K. OpenPyRo-A1 achieves $\text{0.2}\,\text{mm}$ repeatability and supports a $\text{5}\,\text{kg}$ payload per arm, and (2) a Python-first distributed control framework for seamless teleoperation, data collection, and policy deployment, designed for ease of use; moreover, the code-base is installable via pip. We conducted imitation learning experiments in both simulation and the real world, integrating the robot with perception models, motion planning, and a large language model. The results demonstrate that OpenPyRo-A1 is a stable, user-friendly, and high-precision dual-arm platform. We expect that the OpenPyRo-A1 hardware, control system, and curated dataset of bi-manual manipulation episodes will advance affordable and scalable dual-arm robotics.