ROBOTIS OP3

What it's for

The OP3 is a small humanoid (51 cm tall, 3.5 kg, 20 degrees of freedom) designed so that people can learn robotics on it, not so that it can carry anything. Its true habitat is the lab room, the student workshop and the RoboCup pitch. ROBOTIS of Seoul, maker of the Dynamixel servos, built it as an open platform: an Intel NUC i3 computer (8 GB RAM), a Logitech C920 camera, a gyroscope, an accelerometer and a magnetometer.

The first use is universities (universities) and RoboCup competitions: the platform is open, and the servos and controllers can be taken apart and understood, so nobody has to wait for manufacturer updates. That is the OP3's value: transparency.

The second use is schools and courses (schools). A humanoid about half a meter tall fits on a table, yet lets you show students the problems of balance, computer vision and controlling many joints at once. The third is lab prototyping (laboratories): researchers test control in the ROS environment on it before moving an idea to a larger robot.

A practical note: according to the manufacturer, the OP3's official software runs on ROS1 (Kinetic/Melodic), not ROS2. If your lab has already migrated, you will have to do your own integration work. You will find more on what the robot is for and how to get started in “Educational Robots for Schools and Universities” and “How to Start Learning Robotics in Poland”.

Who it's for

The OP3 is for universities, student science clubs, RoboCup teams and teachers who want to show real humanoid robotics, not a toy. It works where someone can program (Linux, ROS, C++/Python) and likes digging into code.

It is not a robot for a primary school that wants a simple drag-and-drop course; educational kits such as LEGO Education SPIKE Prime Set fit better there. It is not suited to work in a company: it lacks the payload and reliability needed in production. Nor should you buy it if you need support in Polish; distribution to Poland is indirect, through the French shop generationrobots.com.

Deployments

We only know that orders for the Polish market are fulfilled by the French distributor generationrobots.com. Worldwide, the OP3 serves mainly research and education: RoboCup competitions and university courses. In the wider category, take a look at educational robots and at the SO-101, an open arm for learning AI-based control.

NAO: a classic educational humanoid of similar scale, popular at universities. It has mature software and plenty of learning materials, but it is a more closed platform than the OP3.

LEGO Education SPIKE Prime Set: for younger students and teachers who want to start from zero. It is not a humanoid, but it is cheap compared with the OP3 and comes with ready-made lesson scenarios.

myCobot 280: a small educational manipulator from Elephant Robotics. A good choice if you want to teach arm programming rather than walking.

Dobot MG400: a desktop arm from Dobot close to an industrial one, useful in automation labs.

ToddlerBot: an open-source small humanoid from Stanford University, for those who like to build and modify their own design.

The OP3 went on sale in January 2018 as the successor to the OP2 and was built from the start as an open research platform. Its maker, ROBOTIS (Seoul, 1999), earned its standing through the Dynamixel servos, which also power many other people's designs, and its platforms, including the TurtleBot3, are well known in the ROS community. It is worth comparing with the NAO, which has an even longer history in education. The OP3 has been used in RoboCup competitions for years, which follows from its purpose.