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QuadrupedStanford Student Robotics2020US

Stanford Pupper (v1)

Low-cost, servo-driven 12-DOF quadruped designed for robotics education and benchmarking, running on a Raspberry Pi.

discontinuedDIYL1 Compilednot buildable

Difficulty index

6.5/13
6.5
Index breakdown
Classquadruped+3.5
Cost$861 BOM+0.9
DOF12 DOF+1.2
Parts80 parts+0.9
How the index works

Specimen photographs

1 item
  • Stanford PupperNathan · official video, embedded · source

Spec card

4/13 known
Degrees of freedom
12
BOM total
$861 · 34/34 lines priced
Part count
80
Compute
Raspberry Pi

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

What you learn building it

  • +Gait generation
  • +State estimation from an IMU
  • +Sim-to-real policy transfer
  • +High-current power and motor drivers
  • +FDM 3D printing: 13 parts
  • +CNC machining: 10 parts
  • +Tools used: FDM printer, or a print service (upstream used 3D Hubs: SLS PA12 ~$180, FDM PLA/PETG ~$80), 2.5 mm hex driver, Loctite, Soldering iron at ~260 °C (500 °F), 2 mm hex driver, T20 Torx driver, Wrench for the locknut, Wrench +12
  • +20 assembly steps across 8 subassemblies
  • +Flashing firmware for Raspberry Pi 4 (Raspbian Buster Lite + RPI-Setup, read-only root), 12 x JX CLS6336 PWM servos driven by pigpiod software PWM

Openness

70/100
  • publicCAD
  • publicBOM
  • publicFirmware
  • not publicSim model
  • publicSoftware
  • not publicPolicies

Score 70/100 computed from what is public: CAD 25, BOM 20, sim 20, firmware 15, software 10, policies 10. Software license: MIT.

Repos & models

Docs

Build it

Discontinued.
BOM total
$861
Lines priced
34/34
Parts
80
Steps
20
Version
0.1.0

Largest BOM lines

Largest bill of materials lines
PartQtyUnit
JX CLS6336 servo (3 per leg); upstream recommends buying a few sparesCLS633612$24.5
Carbon fiber routed parts: top and bottom plates (1.5 mm), 4 upper legs (3 mm), 4 lower legs (2 mm)1$95
25T servo arm (horn)8$8.99
Sony DualShock 4 (PS4) wireless controller1$46.96
Raspberry Pi 4 (2 GB listing linked)1$42
SparkFun VR IMU breakout BNO080 (optional IMU setup)1$37
Custom power distribution PCB (Pi hat), pack of 5; 2 layers, 2 oz copper1$30
5200 mAh 2S LiPo, XT60 (never more than 8.4 V: higher voltage burns the servos)1$17.99

Fabrication

  • FDM 3D printing13
  • CNC machining10
Firmware repo
  • Pupper v1 is end-of-life: the StanfordQuadruped README says support moved to Pupper v3. Docs last changed 2021.
  • Both kit vendors named in the docs are gone: cypress-software-inc.myshopify.com returns 404 and the mangdang.net product link returns 404 (MangDang now sells Mini Pupper, a different design). Great3D, the carbon fiber source, did not respond on 2026-09-25.
  • Prices are the BOM's 2020 pack prices. The Hardware tab totals $423.67 (bulk $324.84); the docs say $900-$1000 if you buy everything yourself. Printed parts are listed at ~$80 (FDM) to ~$180 (SLS) through a service and are not priced lines here.
  • Amazon links in the BOM date from 2020 and several used smile.amazon.com (closed in 2023); they were rewritten to amazon.com/dp/ASIN but not re-checked. JX servos are ordered by email; no web listing.
  • The BOM and the assembly guide disagree on some fasteners: the guide uses M2x8 socket screws in the servo horn clamps (not on the BOM), M4x8 plastic screws on the body (BOM: M4x10), M2.5x6 for the Pi (BOM: M2.5x5), and M3x6 button heads for the carbon plate and upper leg (BOM buys M3x6 socket heads; the M3x6 button head line is marked 'repeat' with no purchase line).
  • The Raspbian image link in the software guide (slack-files.com) is an old workspace file link; use the documented fallback 2020-02-13-raspbian-buster-lite. RPI-Setup and install.sh target Buster; newer Pi OS releases are untested upstream.
  • No URDF/MJCF is published for v1 (the docs mention PyBullet but ship no model), and no learned policy.
  • PCB fab: the PDB needs 2 oz copper; JLCPCB is the upstream vendor (CN). The BOM does not list the Dupont/JST crimps needed for the BEC input.
  • Software license MIT (StanfordQuadruped). CAD is a public Fusion 360 share with no stated licence.

Simulate

humanoidrobots.training/stanford/pupper

No public URDF or MJCF.

Next rung

Z-Bot (Zeroth Bot) →K-Scale Labs · humanoid · index 8.4

No buildable class sits between quadrupeds and humanoids yet, so the next rung is the easiest humanoid.

NoteRepo carries an end-of-life notice; support moved to Pupper v3. The docs source repo (Pupper) and the PDB repo (Pupper-Raspi-PDB: KiCad, Gerbers) have no license file and were last pushed 2021 and 2020; the CAD is a public Fusion 360 share with no stated license. Software (StanfordQuadruped) is MIT.

Sources

  1. [1]StanfordQuadruped repo (EOL notice)checked 2026-09-24
  2. [2]arXiv: Stanford Pupper paperchecked 2026-09-24
  3. [3]Pupper 2020 documentationchecked 2026-09-24
  4. [4]Pupper docs: part sourcing (kit vendors, PDB fab)checked 2026-09-25
  5. [5]Pupper-Raspi-PDB (KiCad, Gerbers)checked 2026-09-25