The company has completed shipments of the first batch and is proceeding with the manufacture of the next lot. Founder Antonio said he began development while conducting robotics research at Columbia University, driven by the difficulty of obtaining affordable hardware. The current model was reached after seven iterations.
Nori features 19 degrees of freedom (DOF), including two 7+1 DOF arms with a 1.5kg payload each, a 55kg telescopic lift, and a differential wheel base. For sensors, it is equipped with four 720p/30fps RGB cameras, a 2D LiDAR, and a dual-microphone array supporting full-duplex voice communication. It is powered by a 432Wh battery and a Raspberry Pi 5 (4GB RAM).
According to the company, SLAM and safety control are executed on-board, while ACT and VLA are executed on a PC via LAN or a server via WAN. The primary design challenge was keeping the cost below $1,688, which led to the adoption of high-reduction ratio servos instead of QDD motors and a wheel base instead of legs.
An open SDK including teleoperation and demonstration tools is available on GitHub. Parts of the hardware are open-source, and 3D print files for repairs are also distributed. Further details are described in the hardware paper.
The company stated that basic cleaning, opening and closing drawers, restocking shelves, and pouring beer are currently possible. In the future, they aim to enable people without robotics experience to teach tasks to Nori and share them with other owners.
Source: Launch HN: Nori Robotics (YC S26) – A low-cost humanoid robot for development (Hacker News Frontpage, 2026-09-02)