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ArmStanford (Tony Zhao et al.)2023US

ALOHA

Low-cost open-source bimanual teleoperation system with two leader and two follower arms plus four cameras, used to collect data for ACT imitation learning.

researchDIYL2 Sim-verifiedbuildable

Difficulty index

6.7/13
6.7
Index breakdown
Classarm+2
Cost$19k BOM+2.3
DOFunknown · midpoint+1.5
Parts80 parts+0.9
How the index works

Specimen photographs

4 items
  • ALOHA studio render, three-quarter front view
    Studio render of the published MJCF, keyframe pose from the model. Geometry only; colours are the model's own materials.Rendered by Hyperspawn from mujoco_menagerie/aloha (BSD-3-Clause) · Hyperspawn render · source
  • ALOHA studio render, side view
    Side view of the same MJCF render, keyframe pose from the model.Rendered by Hyperspawn from mujoco_menagerie/aloha (BSD-3-Clause) · Hyperspawn render · source
  • 4 s turntable of the MJCF studio render.Rendered by Hyperspawn from mujoco_menagerie/aloha (BSD-3-Clause) · Hyperspawn render · source
  • ALOHA Robot at Stanford UniversityZipeng Fu · official video, embedded · source

Spec card

3/13 known
BOM total
$19k · 23/34 lines priced
Part count
80
Sensors
4 cameras

Not in the registry: degrees of freedom, height, mass, payload, speed, runtime, battery, price, actuators, compute. Left blank rather than guessed.

What you learn building it

  • +Forward and inverse kinematics
  • +Joint calibration and homing
  • +Trajectory planning
  • +Teleoperation and collecting demonstrations for learning
  • +FDM 3D printing: 25 parts
  • +Tools used: FDM printer (~$300 class), Ultimaker Cura, Metal file set, Wire stripper, Crimp tool, Digital multimeter, Ubuntu 20.04 + ROS 1 Noetic (tested per README), Drill +7
  • +23 assembly steps across 9 subassemblies
  • +Flashing firmware for Interbotix X-series arms: stock Dynamixel firmware (gripper motor ID 9 is XM430-W350 on the ViperX), Robot USB interface (FTDI serial; udev bound to /dev/ttyDXL_*)
  • +Testing in simulation (URDF/MJCF) before touching hardware
  • +Running published learned policies

Openness

85/100
  • publicCAD
  • publicBOM
  • not publicFirmware
  • publicSim model
  • publicSoftware
  • publicPolicies

Score 85/100 computed from what is public: CAD 25, BOM 20, sim 20, firmware 15, software 10, policies 10. Software license: MIT.

Repos & models

MJCF ↗MuJoCo Menagerie ↗
SiteDocsBuy

Build it

Has an ORP build package.
BOM total
$19k
Lines priced
23/34
Parts
80
Steps
23
Version
0.1.0

11 lines have no price yet, so the real total is higher.

Largest BOM lines

Largest bill of materials lines
PartQtyUnit
Trossen ViperX 300 Robot Arm 6DOF (puppet / follower arms)vx300s (Interbotix robot_model)2$5,695.95
Trossen WidowX 250 Robot Arm 6DOF (master / leader arms)wx250s (Interbotix robot_model)2$3,295.95
Logitech C922x Pro Stream webcam (2 wrist, 1 top, 1 front)C922x4$98.35
Standing desk, 48x30 in, black1$199.99
Aluminium extrusion bars, black, 10 pcs x 1220 mm (48 in) (yellow bars in frame CAD)1$99.99
Corner bracket set, 20 sets, M5x8 (type 1 brackets)3$28.99
Aluminium extrusion bars, black, 10 pcs x 1000 mm (39.4 in) (green bars)1$83.99
Corner bracket, black, L-4 with screws (type 2; supplies the drop-in T-nuts)4$15.99

Fabrication

  • FDM 3D printing25
Firmware repo
  • The ViperX 300 6DOF and WidowX 250 6DOF links in the tutorial BOM now redirect to Trossen's /ai page, and Trossen's ViperX 300 S and WidowX 250 S pages are marked discontinued. Trossen now sells ALOHA as kits (Stationary, Mobile, Solo) built on newer hardware; this package describes the original ALOHA only.
  • USD prices are the tutorial's 2023 figures. The listed total ($19,529.03) does not equal the sum of the line items; the robots are about $18,000 of it.
  • The replacement power supply, DC cables, spade connectors and 10 ft USB cables have links but no prices; the fork spade connector quantity is not stated. The printer is only '~$300'.
  • All non-robot vendor links are Amazon US short links (a.co); there are no EU/CN/IN sources upstream.
  • OS guidance conflicts: the README lists Ubuntu 18.04/20.04 with ROS 1 Noetic as tested, while the tutorial's Codebase section says Ubuntu 22.04 with ROS 2 Humble. The repo's launch files and scripts are ROS 1.
  • The README's arm.py patch (T_sb = None) edits Interbotix toolbox code and must be redone after Interbotix updates.
  • Print settings give no layer height or exact wall counts; those are in images in the printing doc. STLs live in a Google Drive folder, not the repo. The repo's aloha2/ folder holds ALOHA 2 parts (wrist cam mount, gravity compensator clips, D405 mounts, workcell) that are out of scope here.
  • No real-robot policies are published. The Hugging Face ACT checkpoints are trained in simulation.
  • Arms collapse when torque is turned off (no brakes); support them when using Dynamixel Wizard.
  • Robot hardware is sold by Trossen under its own terms; the aloha and act code is MIT.

Simulate

Load it in the browser simulator and train a policy before building.

Open on humanoidrobots.training ↗

Next rung

Aero Hand Open →Chestnut Robotics (formerly TetherIA) · hand · index 5.5

Easiest buildable hand, the next class up from arm. Adds tendon and linkage transmissions.

NoteOriginal repo last pushed Apr 2024; follow-ons (ALOHA 2, commercial kits) exist. Hardware assembly guide is a Google Doc. MIT covers the aloha and act code only; the hardware (Trossen arms) is sold under Trossen's terms and the printed parts have no stated license, so hw is left undeclared.

Sources

  1. [1]ALOHA repo (MIT)checked 2026-09-24
  2. [2]Project sitechecked 2026-09-24
  3. [3]MuJoCo Menagerie alohachecked 2026-09-24
  4. [4]Trossen Robotics ALOHA kitschecked 2026-09-25
  5. [5]Trossen ViperX 300 page (marked discontinued)checked 2026-09-25
  6. [6]LeRobot ACT ALOHA checkpoint (trained in sim)checked 2026-09-25