LeKiwi
Low-cost open-source mobile manipulator: an SO-ARM101 arm on a 3-wheel holonomic (kiwi) base with omni wheels. It is usually run from an onboard Raspberry Pi 5 that streams to a laptop, and a wired version exists. LeRobot supports it natively and teleoperates it with an SO leader arm plus keyboard driving.
open hardware · Apache-2.0LeRobot native since 0.3.2verified 2026-10-24aka LeKiwi mobile manipulator, Mobile SO100, mobile so100, lekiwi_client
Policies on LeKiwi 4 with evidence · 2 unknown
| Policy | State | Tier | Verified | Detail |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ACT Imitation | works | T1 · upstream documented | 2026-10-24 1d ago | |
| Diffusion Policy Imitation | partial | T3 · community reported | 2026-10-25 today | Training evidenced by public checkpoint(s); on-robot inference not documented by a primary source. |
| π0.5 VLA | partial | T3 · community reported | 2026-10-24 1d ago | Training evidenced by public checkpoint(s); on-robot inference not documented by a primary source. |
| SmolVLA VLA | partial | T3 · community reported | 2026-10-24 1d ago | Training evidenced by public checkpoint(s); on-robot inference not documented by a primary source. |
No verified evidence, but both are available in LeRobot (ecosystem context): EO-1, Evo-1, Fast-WAM, GR00T N1.7, HIL-SERL, LingBot-VA, MolmoAct2, Multitask DiT, π0-FAST, π0, TD-MPC, VLA-JEPA, VQ-BeT, WALL-OSS, X-VLA.
Not yet verified: OpenVLA-OFT, OpenVLA. Have evidence?
Specifications
- Degrees of freedom
- 5 (Arm: five joints + gripper (SO-ARM101, six STS3215). Base: three STS3215 wheel motors (kiwi drive), not counted in dof.)src
- Arms
- 1
- Actuators
- Feetech STS3215 serial bus servos (6 arm + 3 base wheels)src
- Price (USD)
- $482–$499 (Self-sourced parts cost from the maker's BOM (US): $482 (12V version) and $499 (5V version). Base only costs $184 (wired) to $251.5. The maker notes that prices vary by location and time.)src
- BOM / build
- github.com/SIGRobotics-UIUC/LeKiwi/blob/main/BOM.md
- Homepage
- github.com/SIGRobotics-UIUC/LeKiwi
- Built-in sensors
- RGB, two cameras (wrist + overview)
- Supported sensors
- RGB, single camera, RGB, two cameras (wrist + overview), RGB, three or more cameras
- Teleoperation
- SO-100/SO-101 leader arm (so100_leader) for the arm, Keyboard (w,a,s,d / z,x) for the base
The maker README lists two built-in cameras: a workspace RGB camera and a wrist RGB camera. A Dynamixel variant (Koch v1.1 arm, XL430 base motors) is documented in the maker repo but is not a separate LeRobot type.
Framework support
| Framework | Support | Since | Type string | Docs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LeRobot | nativesrc | 0.3.2 | lekiwi, lekiwi_client | docs |
| LeRobot: `lekiwi` runs on the robot (host, usually a Raspberry Pi). `lekiwi_client` runs on the laptop and talks to the host over ZeroMQ. Install extra: pip install -e ".[lekiwi]". Both types are already present at v0.3.2. The wired version runs everything on the PC. | ||||
Sources
- T1 · upstream documentedofficial-docssource 2026-08-03verified 2026-10-24 (1d ago)lerobot 0.6.1
LeRobot README lists LeKiwi among natively supported hardware.
“SO100, LeKiwi, Koch, HopeJR, OMX, EarthRover, Reachy2, Gamepads, Keyboards, Phones, OpenARM, Unitree G1, reBot B601.”
https://github.com/huggingface/lerobot/blob/v0.6.1/README.md - T1 · upstream documentedofficial-docssource 2026-08-03verified 2026-10-24 (1d ago)lerobot 0.6.1
LeKiwi guide: leader arm for the arm, keyboard for the base.
“Now you can move the leader arm and use the keyboard (w,a,s,d) to drive forward, left, backwards, right.”
https://github.com/huggingface/lerobot/blob/v0.6.1/docs/source/lekiwi.mdx - T1 · upstream documentedsource-codesource 2026-08-03verified 2026-10-24 (1d ago)lerobot 0.6.1
Registers lekiwi (host) and lekiwi_client robot types.
“@RobotConfig.register_subclass("lekiwi_client")”
https://github.com/huggingface/lerobot/blob/v0.6.1/src/lerobot/robots/lekiwi/config_lekiwi.py - T1 · upstream documentedsource-codesource 2026-08-03verified 2026-10-24 (1d ago)lerobot 0.6.1
Motor map: six arm motors and three base wheels, all sts3215.
“"base_left_wheel": Motor(7, "sts3215", MotorNormMode.RANGE_M100_100),”
https://github.com/huggingface/lerobot/blob/v0.6.1/src/lerobot/robots/lekiwi/lekiwi.py - T1 · upstream documentedrelease-notessource 2025-08-01verified 2026-10-24 (1d ago)lerobot 0.3.2
LeKiwi (initially 'mobile so100') was added before the first tagged release.
“Add mobile so100 by @pkooij in https://github.com/huggingface/lerobot/pull/724”
https://github.com/huggingface/lerobot/releases/tag/v0.3.2 - T1 · upstream documentedvendor-docsverified 2026-10-24 (1d ago)
Maker README: kiwi drive with omni wheels, SO-ARM101 arm, workspace + wrist RGB cameras.
“- 3-wheel Kiwi (holonomic) drive with omni wheels”
https://github.com/SIGRobotics-UIUC/LeKiwi/blob/efa608d7ee5a495a4803b1d28cd0c955b4f1e033/README.md - T1 · upstream documentedvendor-docsverified 2026-10-24 (1d ago)
Maker BOM totals: 12V $482, 5V $499; base-only options $184-$251.5.
“| **12V** | **$482** | **€545.8** | **¥2891** | | **5V** | **$499** |”
https://github.com/SIGRobotics-UIUC/LeKiwi/blob/efa608d7ee5a495a4803b1d28cd0c955b4f1e033/BOM.md