Builders get CAD, a priced parts list and code but must work out assembly from the STEP model, and the parts run about $12,000 at the listed prices.
MEVIUS is a 15.5 kg aluminum quadruped from the JSK Robotics Laboratory at the University of Tokyo, published at Humanoids 2024. Its body and hip parts are sheet-metal weldments ordered from MISUMI's meviy service, the other metal parts are machined there too, and only the calves and feet are 3D printed. Twelve off-the-shelf CubeMars AK70-10 motors and an Intel NUC run a reinforcement learning walking policy written in Python.
At a glance
| Parts cost | $12,400 parts list · Sum of the project's parts list for the metal parts, bearings, motors and electronics, excluding 3D-printed parts and screws. Its low-cost column with cheaper motors, PC and IMU totals about $5,300 source ↗ |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 4/5 Advanced · No machining is done by the builder, but it needs ordering about $3,200 of custom metal parts (estimate, from the parts list), CAN motor setup, RL training and assembly from CAD alone. |
| Build time | Not stated |
| Tools needed | 3D printer able to print POTICON NTL34M (nylon-based potassium titanate composite) for the four calves, plus TPU 95A feet and a PLA camera mount, ordering metal parts from MISUMI meviy by part number or uploaded STEP (no in-house machining or welding), hand tools for about 230 M3/M5 screws, bearings and pins, battery wiring and a CAN bus daisy chain, Linux PC with an NVIDIA GPU for Isaac Gym training (unconfirmed, Isaac Gym needs one) |
| Motors | 12 CubeMars (T-Motor) AK70-10 brushless servo motors, 10:1 gear ratio, 25 N·m peak, set to MIT mode |
| Controller | Intel NUC12WSKi7 mini PC, ESD CAN-USB/2 adapter on a single CAN channel, Schneider Harmony ZBRRA wireless e-stop with an OMRON power relay |
| Sensors | Intel RealSense T265 tracking camera for body velocity, motor encoders |
| Published | ✓ Parts list✓ CAD/STL✗ Assembly guide✓ Wiring✓ Software✗ Video GitHub README for software, Google Drive folder with STEP/STL/URDF files, a parts-list spreadsheet with prices and a screw list, and the arXiv paper for the circuit diagram. The YouTube video is a demo, not a build guide |
| Activity | Last update 2025-06-10 · 256 GitHub stars · 28 forks on GitHub, 3 issues. A November 2025 question asking for updates had no reply |
| Kits | No kit. RT Corporation announced in December 2024 a build-to-order product based on MEVIUS, at a target of several million yen |
Licenses
No license is stated for the design files. They are published for building, but without a license the right to copy, modify or redistribute them is not granted.
| Design files | None found for the CAD on Google Drive (the README says all hardware components are in that folder, but the folder carries no license). The URDF and meshes inside the GitHub repo fall under its MIT license source ↗ |
|---|---|
| Code | MIT source ↗ |
| Documentation | None found for the project page. The paper is under arXiv's non-exclusive distribution license, which grants no reuse rights source ↗ |
Builder notes
Practical points from the project's issue tracker, forum and docs, each linked to its source.
- The printed parts were first released only as STL. After a request in March 2025 the author added STEP versions plus a full assembled STEP model to the Drive folder, which is the closest thing to an assembly reference. source ↗
- A builder asked in November 2025 for assembly instructions and got no answer. The parts list does give a screw schedule that names which joint each screw length is for. source ↗
- Motors and electronics make up most of the cost. The parts list suggests cheaper swaps, including a lower-cost motor listing, a cheaper mini PC and CAN adapter, an IMU in place of the T265 and dropping the wireless e-stop, which roughly halves the total. source ↗
- The README warns that the published walking policy is basic and not very stable. A much improved version was promised, but the last commit is from June 2025. source ↗
- Running all 12 motors on one USB CAN channel adds 0.02 to 0.06 s of delay. A policy trained without modeling that delay shook the real legs badly enough to break them, so training randomly delays actions by 1 to 3 frames. source ↗
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