Program a sub-$2k personal robot
MARS is a general-purpose robot with an open onboard agentic OS built on ROS2.
Done with a custom-built or unnamed agent
- What they did
- The source is a launch post for MARS, an assembled, calibrated robot with a Jetson Orin Nano, a 5DoF arm with wrist camera, an RGBD camera, 2D LiDAR and speakers. You write "behaviors" in the BASIC SDK, which runs the robot like an AI agent with VLAs. Skills come from training the arm or writing code tools, and ROS2 topics allow low-level control.
- How it went
- The post is a launch announcement and reports no results or measurements. It says the robot boots in a minute and can be controlled by phone or programmed from a PC. Hardware and software are to be open-sourced later.
- Worth knowing
- A temporary Hacker News code lowers the price to $1,799; the post says it targets hobbyists and education, and the open-sourcing is still planned, not done.
Try it yourself with Claude Code
Help me get started programming my [robot name or model] using ROS2. Look at the project in this folder, explain how it is structured, and write a simple node that makes the robot [simple task, e.g. drive forward 1 meter and stop]. Stop once the node builds and I have the exact command to run it in simulation, and ask me before running anything on real hardware.
Source: HN · Oct 7, 2025
Five of these in your inbox every morning
The best things people got an AI agent to do, each with the prompt to try it.
More like this
Find a Linux vulnerability hidden for 23 years
An account of Claude Code uncovering a long-standing vulnerability in Linux.
- Custom agent
Generate parametric CAD models from a prompt
An open-source text-to-CAD tool that produces 3D models from text and image references by generating CAD as code.
Drive a 7-axis robot arm with natural language
OpenClaw is taught a skill and rules for the NERO arm, then writes and runs Python control scripts from plain-language movement requests.
Design and build a robotic arm with no CAD experience
A builder used Claude Code with FreeCAD and Claude Vision to design, print, and assemble a 5-DOF servo arm with vision and voice control.
Hunt for unpatched vulnerabilities in SQLite commits
Google's Big Sleep agent reviewed recent SQLite commits starting from a patched bug and found an exploitable flaw, which was fixed before release.
Sort waste using local recycling rules
Gemini Robotics-ER 1.5 looks up local recycling rules online, then plans and sorts objects into compost, recycling and trash bins.