OpenMind, the developer of an open artificial intelligence operating system for robotics, and RoboStore LLC, a distributor of advanced intelligent robotics platforms, announced the launch of an educational curriculum for humanoid robots.

Only a few years ago, humanoid robots cost more than $100,000 to build and deploy. At the time, they were more for presentation and development, rather than commercially viable products. Prices are coming down, and analysts expect prices to dip below $10,000.

The advent of vision language models and robotics foundation models has accelerated the development of physical intelligence for machines, allowing them to both understand the real world and perform actions. Examples such as Nvidia Corp.’s GR00T, Google LLC’s Gemini Robotics and Skild AI’s Brain robot model have brought significant advancements to robotic autonomy and intelligence in the past year.

OpenMind released an open-source OS for machine intelligence called OM1 earlier this year. It provides a universal platform that allows any robot to reason, perceive and act in the real world.

“As a parent, I think it’s important for these machines to be easy for humans to understand, guardrail, and improve,” OpenMind Chef Executive Jan Liphardt told SiliconANGLE. “At OpenMind, I’ve been helping to build an open-source software stack for humanoids, and developers all over seem to really like the idea. Think Android, but for humanoids rather than cell phones.”

Robostore is the largest distributor of Unitree G1 humanoid robots, a surprisingly nimble and capable humanoid robot model. In demonstrations, the G1 smashed walnuts, flipped flapjacks, and soldered electrical wires, showing that it is capable of precise movements.

“At the end of the day, robots are the hardware to the AI revolution,” Robostore CEO Teddy Haggerty told SiliconANGLE.

The company said more campuses and labs are adopting humanoid robots as part of research programs. Robostore already supports over 100 leading institutions, including Harvard, MIT and Stanford. It’s projected that more than 1 billion humanoid robots will be shipped by 2050.

“AI, especially vision-language and policy learning models, now let’s robots learn tasks instead of being hand-programmed,” Haggerty said. “This created a gap: universities want to teach humanoids, but there hasn’t been a standardized, commercially supported curriculum or a reliable hardware platform.”

The curriculum, available through Robostore in partnership with academic institutions, will provide access to the OM1 software stack and G1 humanoid robots. The companies said the educational materials and plan meet the needs of technical schools and research institutes by aligning hardware, software and instruction, allowing faculty to launch high-impact courses within weeks.

Haggerty stated that any student, not just highly technical software designers and engineers, can benefit from this partnership. It is a step towards democratizing knowledge in the development and innovation of the next generation of humanoid robotics.

“Our curriculum is designed for anyone with curiosity and appetite,” Haggerty added. “If a student is motivated, this curriculum gives them a path to meaningfully participate and grow, regardless of where they’re starting from.”

Image: RoboStore