ASPIR

ASPIR (AUTONOMOUS SUPPORT AND POSITIVE INSPIRATION ROBOT) is the world’s only full-sized 3D-printed humanoid robot “that anyone can build”! created by Jon Choi.

Choi, a BCSA and Robotics Institute Graduate of CMU, and founder of Choitek in Pittsburgh, created ASPIR as the spiritual successor to Halley, the Ambassador Robot 001 (2015), a popular low-cost, open-source, 2.6-foot laser-cut humanoid robot.

“Over the course of showcasing the Halley Robot, we’ve found that humanoid robots are awesome at looking human and eliciting social-emotional responses from human viewers. There are plenty of humanoid robots out there for sale, but they all really fall into just two categories: affordable toy hobbyist robots that are less than 2-feet tall, and full-size, and research-grade humanoid robots that cost more than new sports cars. We wanted to bring the best of both worlds together with an affordable, open-source full-size humanoid robot. And thus the ASPIR project was born.”

ASPIR’s entire plan can be downloaded from instructables.com, with the caveat that this is an advanced and large Instructables project! Choi recommend you have significant 3D-printing experience before attempting this project. Expected build time will be several months with an estimated build cost of roughly $2500 (this cost may be lower or higher depending on which suppliers you use and which parts you already have). Note that this Instructable only covers the hardware construction, and not the software (this is currently under development). With that being said, full speed ahead and good luck!

ASPIR was made possible by grant #2016-036 of the Frank-Ratchye Fund for Art @ the Frontier.