Launch HN: K-Scale Labs (YC W24) – K-Scale 实验室 (YC W24) 发布：开源人形机器人
12 分•作者: codekansas•7 个月前
大家好，我是 Ben，来自 K-Scale Labs (<a href="https://kscale.dev">https://kscale.dev</a>)。我们正在构建开源人形机器人。
硬件视频：<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhZi9rtdEKg" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhZi9rtdEKg</a>
软件视频：<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXi3b3xXJFw" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXi3b3xXJFw</a>
文档：<a href="https://docs.kscale.dev">https://docs.kscale.dev</a>
Github：<a href="https://github.com/kscalelabs">https://github.com/kscalelabs</a>
五月份的 HN 帖子：<a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44023680">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44023680</a>
我创办 K-Scale 的原因是我真的很想捣鼓一个人形机器人，所以我知道如果我造一个，至少会有一个客户。在 Unitree G1 推出之前，当时最便宜的选择也要 5 万多美元，但我认为我可以用 COTS（商用现货）组件以大约 1 万美元的价格造一个，这对独立黑客和开发者来说会是一个更好的价格点。
我们使用一些 3D 打印机和从亚马逊和阿里巴巴购买的零件制造了第一个版本。它并不出色，但它让我们构建了完整的流程，从设计和制造硬件到在模拟中训练控制策略。我们实际上在两个月内完成了大部分工作，并在 YC Demo Day 之前就有一个可以站立和挥手的机器人（尽管它没啥其他用处！）。
从那时起，我们的重点就放在了如何将一个爱好级机器人变成消费级机器人，同时不增加我们的 BOM（物料清单，即所有零件的成本）或不得不建立我们自己的工厂。这出乎意料地困难。目前，许多机器人组件的供应链都经过中国，但关税使得依赖中国供应商的组件变得困难。此外，即使是 1 万美元的价格点，对于大多数客户来说，对于一个功能相当有限的人形机器人来说，也相当昂贵。
我们的解决方案是开源我们的硬件和软件。这使我们更容易应对关税和制造挑战。通过公开我们的参考设计，我们的供应商更容易找到为我们提供有竞争力的解决方案的方法，而我们的制造合作伙伴也能够更容易地调整我们的设计以适应他们的生产流程。
在需求方面，人形机器人的基本问题是它们目前基本无用，而且要让它们变得有用，这可能是一个漫长且相当耗费资金的旅程。我的期望是，像我这样对捣鼓人形机器人感兴趣的人群中存在着大量的潜在兴趣，而且这个客户群体是比更传统的以业务为中心的机器人应用更好的客户群体。作为这个客户群体中的一员，我认为开源软件和硬件将是一个强大的价值主张，特别是对于探索将人形机器人引入自己业务领域的开发者来说。
更具哲学意味的是，我认为拥有一个好的、开源的人形机器人很重要。我认为这项技术很可能比许多人目前预期的发展得更快，而由某个公司拥有的成群结队的人形机器人四处走动是很反乌托邦的。
目前，我们以 8999 美元的价格出售我们的基础人形机器人 K-Bot。我们现在出售它的主要原因，而不是等待做更多的研发，是因为我们试图在进行最终的 DfM（面向制造的设计）之前，与我们的供应商协商批量价格。例如，我们能够为执行器和末端执行器协商比普通独立开发者为小批量订单所能获得更好的批量定价。
然而，今天许多想购买人形机器人的人这样做是因为他们想要一个完全自主的机器人来做所有的家务，这是一个非常困难（尽管令人兴奋）的事情。为了解决这个问题，我们提供“完全自主”选项——它与机器人硬件相同，但我们将提供免费的硬件和软件升级，直到我们能够使机器人完全自主。通过这种方式，我们可以预先获得一些额外的现金来启动开发，并开始建立一个核心团队，他们致力于帮助我们提高机器人在各种环境中的能力。从我们客户的角度来看，这是一种降低从一家年轻的硬件公司购买第一代产品的风险的方式，并对技术的发展产生更大的影响。
构建开源软件和硬件最好的部分是被比我们更聪明的人“肢解”，所以我们很乐意听取您的反馈！
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Hi HN, I'm Ben, from K-Scale Labs (<a href="https://kscale.dev">https://kscale.dev</a>). We're building open-source humanoid robots.<p>Hardware video: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhZi9rtdEKg" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhZi9rtdEKg</a><p>Software video: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXi3b3xXJFw" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXi3b3xXJFw</a><p>Docs: <a href="https://docs.kscale.dev">https://docs.kscale.dev</a><p>Github: <a href="https://github.com/kscalelabs">https://github.com/kscalelabs</a><p>HN thread from back in May: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44023680">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44023680</a><p>I started K-Scale because I really wanted a humanoid robot to hack on, so I knew that if I built one, I would have at least one customer. It was before the Unitree G1 came out so the cheapest option at the time costed over $50k, but I figured I could build one for about $10k using COTS (Commercial Off-the-Shelf) components, which would be a much better price point for indie hackers and developers.<p>We built the first version using some 3D printers and parts that I bought off of Amazon and Alibaba. It was not great, but it let us build out the full pipeline, from designing and building the hardware to training control policies in simulation. We actually did most of this in about two months, and had a standing, waving robot by YC Demo Day (although it wasn't good for much else!).<p>Since then, our focus has been on figuring out how to go from a hobby-grade robot to a consumer-grade robot, without inflating our BOM (Bill of Materials, i.e. cost of all the parts) or having to set up our own factories. This is surprisingly difficult. A lot of the supply chain for robotics components currently goes through China, but tariffs have made it difficult to rely on Chinese suppliers for components. Also, even a $10k price point is pretty expensive for most customers, for a humanoid robot that has fairly limited capabilities.<p>Our solution to this is to open-source our hardware and software. This makes it easier for us to navigate tariffs and manufacturing challenges. By making our reference design public, our suppliers have a much easier time figuring out how to offer us competitive solutions, and our manufacturing partners are able to more easily adjust our design for their production processes.<p>On the demand side, the basic problem with humanoid robots is that they're mostly useless right now, and it will probably be a long and fairly capital-intensive journey to make them useful. My expectation was that there is a large pool of latent interest from people like me who are interested in hacking on humanoids, and that this customer segment is a much better customer segment to sell into than more traditional business-focused robotics applications. As someone in this customer segment myself, I felt that open-source software and hardware would be a strong value proposition, particularly for developers exploring bringing humanoids into their own business verticals.<p>More philosophically, I think it is important that there is a good, open-source humanoid robot. I think the technology is likely to mature much more rapidly than many people currently expect, and the idea of armies of humanoids owned by some single company walking around is pretty dystopian.<p>Right now, we're selling our base humanoid robot, K-Bot, for $8999. The main reason we're selling it now, instead of waiting to do more R&D, is because we're trying to negotiate volume prices with our own suppliers before we do final DfM (Design for Manufacturing). For example, we are able to negotiate better volume pricing for actuators and end effectors than what the average indie developer would be able to get for low-volume orders.<p>However, a lot of the people who want to buy a humanoid robot today do so because they want a completely autonomous robot to do all their chores, which is a pretty hard (although exciting) thing to build. To square this circle, we're offering a "Full Autonomy" option - it is the same robot hardware, but we will provide free hardware and software upgrades until we are able to make the robot fully autonomous. This way, we can have some extra cash upfront to kickstart development, and start to build a core group of people who are aligned with helping us improve the robot's capabilities across a diverse set of environments. From our customers' perspective, it's a way to de-risk buying a first-generation product from a young hardware company, and to have a bigger influence on how the technology unfolds.<p>The best part about building open source software and hardware is getting torn apart by people smarter than us, so we'd love your feedback!