Asimov v0 vs HUMA Kits
Asimov published an open-source lower-body humanoid (12 DOF, ENCOS motors, MuJoCo sim). We ran their specs through our build compiler. It does not compile — and the reasons why tell you everything about what “open source” really means when half the robot is missing.
Compile Status Overview
Asimov v0 Compile Results
Each check below is what our compiler would produce if Asimov's BOM were submitted. Since their ENCOS motors aren't in our verified parts catalog, we run a virtual compile against their published specifications.
Design Flags from Teardown
Beyond compiler checks, our teardown of the Asimov v0 repo surfaced these engineering concerns. Each flag includes the compiler rule we would add to catch it automatically.
ENCOS Motor Specifications
Asimov uses ENCOS for all 12 actuators (5 distinct models). These are the specs from their motor_parameters.md file.
| Model | Joint | Gear | Ratio | Peak Nm | Rated W | Eff. | Mass (kg) | Qty |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EC-A6416-P2-25 | Hip Pitch | Planetary | 25:1 | 120 | 624 | 73% | 0.803 | 2 |
| EC-A5013-H17-100 | Hip Roll | Harmonic (H17) | 100:1 | 90 | 120 | 31% | 0.64 | 2 |
| EC-A3814-H14-107 | Hip Yaw | Harmonic (H14) | 107:1 | 60 | 134.4 | 51% | 0.4 | 2 |
| EC-A4315-P2-36 | Knee | Planetary | 36:1 | 75 | 397 | 74% | 0.455 | 2 |
| EC-A4310-P2-36 | Ankle (Pitch + Roll) | Planetary | 36:1 | 36 | 156 | 71% | 0.384 | 4 |
| Total motor mass | 6.13 kg | 12 | ||||||
What Our Compiler Catches
Missing subsystems
Asimov v0 has no battery, compute, sensors, or upper body. Our compiler requires a complete BOM — you can't ship half a robot. Three of the seven compile dimensions fail immediately on missing components alone.
Thermal budget violations
The hip roll motor runs at 31% efficiency. Our thermal check would flag any motor below 50% efficiency on a continuous-duty joint as an error. In practice this means thermal shutdown during sustained walking without active cooling — which isn't in the BOM either.
Supplier verification gaps
ENCOS has no public distributor, no published pricing, and no verified supplier URL. Our availability check flags this. You literally cannot order these parts from a known source without contacting the manufacturer directly.
Spec-vs-measured discrepancies
The hip yaw motor shows CAN current of +/-40A empirically vs +/-10A in the datasheet — a 4x gap. This either means the spec sheet is wrong or the motor is being driven far beyond its rating. Either way, it's a safety concern.
Kit Compile Comparison
Our three kits are complete BOMs — battery, compute, sensors, frame, and full-body actuators. Each passes the compiler.
| Build | Status | DOF | Mass | BOM Cost | Errors | Warnings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asimov v0 | FAIL | 12 | 22.0 kg* | ~$3,900* | 4 | 3 |
| Kit 00 (Sub-$10K) | PASS | 18 | 19.1 kg | $10,198 | 0 | 4 |
| Kit 01 (Entry) | PASS | 22 | 28.3 kg | $11,211 | 0 | 5 |
| Kit 02 (Mid) | PASS | 28 | 28.2 kg | $20,308 | 0 | 6 |
| Kit 03 (Pro) | PASS | 32 | 43.9 kg | $61,652 | 0 | 6 |
Asimov Software Stack
The sim and training code is the strongest part of the v0 release. MuJoCo + PPO with terrain curriculum is a proven pipeline.
Repository Metadata
The Point
Publishing a lower-body CAD file and a MuJoCo config is not the same as publishing a buildable robot. A real BOM needs to compile — every electrical, mechanical, thermal, and software dependency must resolve. Asimov v0 fails four of seven compiler dimensions before you even get to the interesting engineering questions.
HUMA kits compile. Every part has a verified supplier URL, every voltage matches, every torque budget is checked, and every compute tier is validated against the target AI capability. That is the difference between a GitHub repo and a buildable humanoid.
HUMA kits compile. Asimov v0 does not.
Every HUMA kit passes 9 compatibility checks before you spend a dollar.