Assembler 0 – A 3-D-printable test-bed for partial self-replication

Created by jackvial • Released under MIT License

Assembler 0 is an open, low-cost robot whose long-term goal is to re-print its own plastic parts while still relying on externally supplied motors, boards, and power.
The first milestone is deliberately modest: demonstrate partial material closure — i.e. show that the machine can manufacture some of its own structure — while keeping the electronics and actuation paths open for later closure.

What the robot is

• A modular three-arm cell built entirely from printable SO101 limbs:
  – Gripper arm for general pick-and-place
  – Screwdriver arm (6-DOF) for fastening operations
  – 3-D-printer arm (in development) that will eventually extrude the very joints and links it is made of
• Leader / follower tele-operation lets you bimanually coordinate two arms in real time; every motion is logged as an imitation-learning episode.
• MuJoCo simulation stack (Linux + NVIDIA GPU) mirrors the hardware and runs in the browser at localhost:1337, so you can prototype policies before printing.

What makes it distinctive

1. Self-replication as a design driver, not a marketing after-thought.
   The kinematics, fastener layout, and even the cable routes are chosen so that the printed portions can be unscrewed and re-printed by the same machine.
2. Complete data pipeline in one repo.
   Calibration → tele-operation → dataset recording → policy training (via LeRobot) → hardware deployment are all single-command scripts.
3. Curated imitation dataset already shipped.
   "Screwdriver 391" bundles 391 tele-operated screw-driving episodes — enough to bootstrap a baseline policy without collecting your own data.

Quick start for builders

Clone the repo → follow calibration.md → run teleoperate.py (see README). Arms connect on /dev/ttyACM0 & /dev/ttyACM1, camera on /dev/video4. Every STL, BOM, and wiring diagram is in /hardware; the MuJoCo XML is kept in lock-step so that sim weights transfer to the real arms with no re-tuning.

Also see: SO-101 Teleop Arm — the SO101 arm this builds on.

If you are looking for a hackable, documented, and simulation-backed platform to experiment with machines that make machines, Assembler 0 is the place to start.

Printing

Assembler 0 is an add-on, not a standalone build. This Print All set contains only the assembler-specific parts (screwdriver, camera mount, gripper, leader handle/trigger). To build a working arm you must also print the SO-101 Teleop Arm — Assembler 0 mounts on top of that SO101 base. Without the SO-101 arm parts, this set alone will not build a robot.

What this set prints

Mapped 1:1 to the upstream assembler0-hardware/stl/ folder:

All parts print x1. Several parts (bit holders, camera mounts) need a slicer pause point to embed neodymium magnets — see the upstream hardware README for magnet counts and positions.

Removed from the previous list

Seven entries were MuJoCo simulation meshes from the assembler0-simulator package (not printable hardware): base_link, elbow-to-wrist-motor-reference, gripper-moving-part-dumb, gripper-static-motor, shoulder-to-elbow-motor, koch_screwdriver_chuck, screwdriver_bit, plus the XL330_motor servo-reference model (the XL330 is a purchased Dynamixel servo, not a printed part). These were sim/reference geometry, so printing them wasted filament without contributing structure.