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Manufacturing
Mechanisms, actuators, electronics, and firmware.
Apply now
Engineering
Athleticism.
We are a student team at KU Leuven, building humanoid robots, engineered for fluid, efficient motion and autonomous operations. Join us in our journey towards the Humanoid Soccer League.
Our long-term mission is to support a local robotics ecosystem by building and maintaining an open platform of hardware and software, allowing researchers and engineers to rapidly iterate, experiment, and innovate.
Target roadmap
- Start development
- First walking humanoid / autonomous football stack
- Compete in Humanoid Soccer League
Our mission
Research requires open platforms.
Physical AI brings advances in learning, perception, control, and mechanical design into the real world. Researchers and start-ups need platforms they can inspect, modify, and build upon.
Our mission is to develop and maintain an open robotics stack—from hardware and firmware to high-level software—and build the expertise to apply it in the most challenging use cases.
- ApplicationsGoal-oriented decision making; use case-specific software.
- Learning & controlPolicies, optimization, and motion contol
- Simulation & visualizationTrain, test, and understand behavior
- MiddlewareConnect the robot’s software and hardware
- Hardware & firmwareMechanical designs, electronics, and embedded software
The challenge
Football as a benchmark.
A football game tests the entire robot at once. It must move with agility; locate the ball and other players; strategize and coordinate decentralized plans; and be resilient to uncertainty.
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Motion control
Balance, locomotion, maneuvering, object manipulation, ...
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Perception
Detection, localization, ...
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Decision making
Planning, coordination, and game strategy.
RoboCup’s Humanoid Soccer League gives the team a demanding, shared benchmark. The hardware, software, and knowledge we develop, however, will have impact far beyond.
Our approach
Development strategy
Hardware and software develop in parallel. Autonomous capabilities transfer to our custom humanoid as the hardware matures.
Design a custom humanoid.
Develop the mechanical design, electronics, and actuation for our own robot.
Develop autonomous capabilities.
Develop control, perception, and planning on off-the-shelf robots.
For students
A unique experience
Whether you want to continue working in research, industry, or start your own company, this challenge will give you the real-world experience that makes the difference between a fresh graduate and a seasoned engineer.
- Real engineering responsibility. In a small, resource-constrained team, your contributions to the system make a real difference. You get to own your work and take responsibility (and credit!) for it.
- Multidisciplinary teamwork. From mechanical design to electronics, control systems, perception and language processing, the team will span many engineering disciplines, giving you the opportunity to collaborate beyond your own field and understand how the system comes together.
- Active research problems. You will work on problems that are still subject to active research, allowing you to build expertise at the cutting edge of some of the most challenging, and fast-growing fields of engineering.
- Entrepreneurial experience. Beyond the technical work, you will manage your own budget, pitch to sponsors, and promote your results. You will gain real-world entrepreneurial experience, and build connections that may open many doors in the future.
Join the team.
- Target audience
- Masters in engineering science or engineering technology.
Different background? Don't hesitate to apply anyway! We welcome anyone who is motivated to advance open robotics. - Format
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We offer a one-year, full-time postgraduate program
at KU Leuven.
In the future, we will accept part-time contributions as well, e.g., master theses.
More to follow!
The team runs autonomously, with coaching from KU Leuven researchers. - First working year
- Official start: 2027–2028.
Behind the scenes, a lot is happening already, and contributions are already more than welcome!
For partners
Help build an open robotics ecosystem.
Industry partnerships
Support the team through sponsorship and long-term collaboration. Help shape the platform as it develops.
- Visibly support innovation in robotics through sponsor recognition at events, social media posts, our website, and more.
- Meet and recognize tomorrow's talent through their real-world engineering work
- Exchange ideas and explore collaborations with other sponsors at partner events
- Get early access to our platform, send feature requests and use cases.
Research partnerships
Work with the team on open problems in perception, learning, control, and hardware.
- We will maintain an open backlog of challenges. Use them as test cases for your research;
- Co-host master theses, PhD research, and joint experiments;
- Write joint research proposals pooling our infrastructure and expertise.