An open-source, low-cost mobile manipulator from SIGRobotics at UIUC and Hugging Face's LeRobot team. An SO-101 arm sits on a 3D-printed base with three omni wheels and a Raspberry Pi 5, so it can slide in any direction.

How do you control LeKiwi?

From your laptop. You drive the base with WASD keys or a controller and move the arm with a second leader arm, while the Pi 5 streams joint angles and two camera feeds (workspace and wrist). You can record the sessions as datasets on the Hugging Face Hub to train policies.

Which LeKiwi version should you build first?

The README suggests the 5V version, which runs off a 65W laptop power bank. The wired version is the cheapest option and skips the Pi setup.

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Put an SO-101 arm on wheels with LeKiwi: media published by SIGRobotics-UIUC/LeKiwiCredit: SIGRobotics-UIUC/LeKiwi

Put an SO-101 arm on wheels with LeKiwi

Wheeled, Hard

LeKiwi is an open-source, low-cost mobile manipulator: a 3D-printed three-wheel omni base with a Raspberry Pi 5 and an SO-101 arm, teleoperated from your laptop and ready for LeRobot data collection.

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LeKiwi, from SIGRobotics at UIUC with Hugging Face's LeRobot team, mounts an SO-ARM101 on a 3D-printed base with three omni wheels (a holonomic "kiwi" drive), so it can slide in any direction. A Raspberry Pi 5 on the robot streams joint angles and two camera feeds (workspace and wrist) to your laptop.

You drive the base with WASD keys or a controller and move the arm with a second leader arm, then record datasets to the Hugging Face Hub to train policies. The repo has a bill of materials, print files, assembly guides and a URDF for simulation, and LeRobot's docs cover install, calibration and teleop.

First build? The README suggests the 5V version (a 65W laptop power bank), or the wired version if you want the cheapest option and to skip Pi setup.

Spotted on X in @0x_meden's top-five list of open-source robots you can build at home (Oct 2026).

Quick answers

What is LeKiwi?: An open-source, low-cost mobile manipulator from SIGRobotics at UIUC and Hugging Face's LeRobot team. An SO-101 arm sits on a 3D-printed base with three omni wheels and a Raspberry Pi 5, so it can slide in any direction.
How do you control LeKiwi?: From your laptop. You drive the base with WASD keys or a controller and move the arm with a second leader arm, while the Pi 5 streams joint angles and two camera feeds (workspace and wrist). You can record the sessions as datasets on the Hugging Face Hub to train policies.
Which LeKiwi version should you build first?: The README suggests the 5V version, which runs off a 65W laptop power bank. The wired version is the cheapest option and skips the Pi setup.

Interfaces

LeRobot

Parts list

Some buy links may earn Robot Use Cases a commission. You pay the same price. Prices are what the builder listed in their source, so check the store.

LeKiwi: parts shared by the 5V and 12V versions

Builder's listed total $173.15

3× 4" omni wheel · $9.99 eachBuy at VEX Robotics
M2 M3 M4 assorted screw set · $14.99Buy at Amazon
Raspberry Pi 5 (4GB) · $60Buy at Adafruit
2× USB camera · $12.98 eachBuy at Amazon
microSD card · $11.23Buy at Amazon
Table clamp, 4 pack · $18Buy at Amazon
Screwdriver set · $6Buy at Amazon
USB-C to USB-A cable, 2 pack · $7Buy at Amazon

Also needed: Motors, battery and the SO-101 arm set differ between the 5V, 12V and wired versions. The BOM lists $499 (5V) and $482 (12V) for the full robot. Pick a version in the full BOM.

From SIGRobotics-UIUC/LeKiwi BOM.md, checked 2026-10-17.