solitary-dev-50/tongdou

TongDou is the official repository for a small desktop companion robot that has already been physically built and demonstrated, not just designed on paper. The repository serves as a public showcase for the project and as the first step of a planned, phased open-source release. Right now the repository is intentionally limited in what it shares. It includes an overview of the project, real photos and video of the working prototype, schematic PDF files for the main control board and power system, and the license and notice files that define what is and is not open. A local showcase page lets visitors watch a looping demo video of the robot in action directly in a browser. A lot of the material a builder would need to actually reproduce the robot is not yet included. That means no editable circuit board source files, no manufacturing files like Gerber or pick-and-place data, no bill of materials, no mechanical files, no firmware, and no assembly instructions. The README explains this is deliberate: because TongDou is a real physical product, releasing full manufacturing files too early could let others clone or misrepresent it before an official release and crowdfunding campaign happen. More materials are planned to come out in phases after that first production run ships, though no specific release date is promised. The license situation is narrow and specific. The repository uses the CERN Open Hardware Licence Version 2, Permissive variant, but that license currently only covers the schematic PDF files that are explicitly marked as open hardware. Photos, videos, the README text, the website, the TongDou name and logo, and any future firmware or manufacturing files are excluded from that license unless a later release says otherwise. The project also makes clear that only the official website, gettongdou.com, will ever announce real TongDou products or crowdfunding campaigns, and that third parties should not claim any official connection to the project. Overall, this repository is best understood as an early, controlled preview of a real hardware product rather than a ready-to-build open-source robot kit.