Jimmy the 3D Printed Open Source Humanoid Robot Alternative to Nao

There is no doubt that the future of robotics is 3D printing and open-source license for both software and hardware. Such robots are already a reality as we had already reported. This group of alternatives to Nao the humanoid from Aldebaran Robotics has grown a little more bigger with advent of Jimmy (see Videos 1, 2 and 3). Jimmy can walk fast and have smooth movements, at least for upper limbs. He also comes with voice synthesis (as demoed in Video 1) and thus fulfills part of the goal of being social.

The concept of Jimmy is the brain child of Intel futurist Brian David Johnson (see Video 4). Both the use of 3D printers and making everything open source were there from Jimmy’s inception. The whole idea of this “21 century robot” is described in a free book that is aimed to be collaborative too. It builds on science fiction stories that serve as guidelines for developers willing to contribute to Jimmy’s development.

This first version of Jimmy can already be bought from Trossen Robotics. But, only research labs can afford its $16000. The reason behind this high price tag is the quality of the hardware (see Table 1). It includes dynamixel servos and an Intel NUC single board computer with an i5 processor, 4GB of RAM and 32GB of hard drive. The operating system is a ful Linux Ubuntu. Besides, Jimmy has USB and HDMI connectors that allow connecting a mouse, a keyboard, and a monitor, making development and test much more easier.

Video 1: Intel CEO Brian Krzanich Introduces Jimmy at the Code Conference

Video 2: Overview of Jimmy

Video 3: Jimmy in Action

Video 4: Intel Futurist Brian David Johnson introducing the concept of Jimmy

Table 1: Jimmy’s Specs