britcruise9/growbot

★ 14PythonAudience · vibe coderComplexity · 4/5LicenseSetup · hard

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((GrowBot))
    What it does
      Two-legged walking robot
      AI decides actions
      Learns from each run
    Hardware
      Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W
      Camera and microphone
      Smart servo motors
      LED ring and speaker
    Software
      Motion neural networks
      Agent loop with LLM
      MuJoCo simulation
    Audience
      Robot hobbyists
      AI experimenters
      Makers and builders
    Status
      V0 early snapshot
      V1 planned late 2026
      Build video reference

mindmap root((GrowBot)) What it does Two-legged walking robot AI decides actions Learns from each run Hardware Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W Camera and microphone Smart servo motors LED ring and speaker Software Motion neural networks Agent loop with LLM MuJoCo simulation Audience Robot hobbyists AI experimenters Makers and builders Status V0 early snapshot V1 planned late 2026 Build video reference

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Things people build with this

USE CASE 1

Build your own tiny walking robot at home using 3D-printed parts and a cheap Raspberry Pi.

USE CASE 2

Experiment with AI controlling a real physical robot, the language model picks goals and the robot acts them out.

USE CASE 3

Learn how small neural networks can teach a robot to walk without hand-coded movement rules.

USE CASE 4

Use the included physics simulation to test and train robot movements before building the real hardware.

Tech stack

PythonRaspberry PiMuJoCoNeural NetworksLLM APIServo Motors3D Printing

Getting it running

Difficulty · hard Time to first run · 1day+

This is a V0 early-stage project: full training code is not yet included and build instructions are minimal (reference for a video, not a beginner guide). You will need to 3D-print the body, source all hardware parts, and have some Python and electronics experience. A more complete V1 is planned for late 2026.

Creative Commons non-commercial license, you can build and remix this freely as long as you credit the creator and do not sell it or use it commercially.

In plain English

GrowBot is a small, low-cost bipedal robot built around a Raspberry Pi that the creator describes as a minimum viable physical AI. The project starts from a question: if you strip a humanoid robot down to the absolute bare minimum in parts and cost, what do you get? The answer is a palm-sized two-legged robot with a camera, a microphone, a motion sensor, a small speaker, an LED ring, and two servo motors for legs, all powered by a single small battery. The hardware runs entirely on a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W, a credit-card-sized computer that costs around fifteen dollars. There are no additional computers. The legs use a type of servo motor that reports its own position and load back to the Pi, which lets the software know how the legs are actually moving rather than just assuming. A wiring diagram and a full parts list with prices are included in the repository. The software design has two layers. The lower layer consists of small learned motion policies: compact neural networks trained offline that output servo position targets directly, rather than relying on a hand-written walking pattern. These are deployed onto the Pi after training and continue learning from each run. The upper layer is an agent loop that reads sensor data from the camera, microphone, motion sensor, and servos, sends that picture to an AI language model via an API, and lets the model decide on a goal and an action. The robot tries the action, feeds the result back, and the loop continues. The README is candid that this is a very early snapshot, labeled V0. The power rail design is acknowledged as a rough shortcut, the full training code is not yet included, and the repository is described as a reference for a build video rather than a step-by-step beginner guide. A more stable V1 is planned for late 2026 with proper build instructions, a custom circuit board, and a calibrated simulation model. The 3D-printable body files and a MuJoCo physics simulation file for the body are included. The project is released under a Creative Commons license that allows non-commercial use with attribution.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1

I have a GrowBot bipedal robot running on a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W. Help me write a Python script that reads from the motion sensor and camera, sends the data to an LLM API, and executes the returned action command on the servo motors.

Prompt 2

Using the GrowBot project as reference, explain how to train a small neural network offline that outputs servo position targets for a two-legged walking motion, then deploy it to a Raspberry Pi.

Prompt 3

I want to set up the MuJoCo simulation from the GrowBot repository to test walking gaits before building the physical robot. Walk me through loading the body file and running a basic simulation.

Prompt 4

Help me assemble the GrowBot parts list into a shopping guide, I need the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W, smart servo motors, camera module, microphone, LED ring, and battery. What should I watch out for when sourcing these parts?

Prompt 5

Based on the GrowBot agent loop design, help me write the main Python loop that reads sensor data, formats it as a prompt for an LLM, parses the response into a robot action, and feeds the result back into the next loop iteration.

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