K-Scale Labs
Open-source humanoid robot maker — K-Scale OS (Kos), Stompy and KBot humanoids. YC W24. Pitched as the 'open-source humanoid' alternative to Figure / Tesla — full hardware + software OSS.
At a glance
- Type
- Open-source humanoid + OS — Y Combinator W24
- Tier
- T3
- Created
- 2024 (YC W24)
- Latest release
- K-Scale OS (kos) v0.x
- License
- MIT (OS); humanoid hardware also OSS
- GitHub
- github.com/kscalelabs
- Pricing
- Hardware kits ($8-16k range); OS free
- Funding
- YC W24 (~$500k); additional seed reported
Taxonomy
- storage
- weight
- retrieval
- parametric-recall
- persistence
- parametric-permanent
- update
- agent-controlled
- unit
- trajectory
- governance
- inspectable
- conflict
- training-time
When to use
Optimised for: Open-source humanoid for hobbyist + research
Anti-fit: Tiny team; hardware quality vs Tesla/Figure unclear; community-grade
Pros & cons
Pros
Full OSS humanoid hardware + software; YC-backed; community angle is unique.
Cons
Tiny team; hardware quality unproven; commercial maturity early.
Claims & capabilities
YC W24; OSS humanoid hardware + software; KBot demo + Stompy
Technical surface
- API surface
- Python + ROS / kos APIs
- Backend storage
- Caller-managed
- Deployment
- Hardware ships; OS self-host
- Embedding model
- not applicable — not a memory product
- Multi-tenancy
- Single-tenant per robot
- MCP
- not applicable — wrong section
- A2A
- not applicable — wrong section
- OpenTelemetry
- not applicable — wrong section
Similar systems
Other robotics foundation models & agent stacks in the catalog, ranked by inbound references.
- Google DeepMind Gemini Robotics T1
Google DeepMind's Gemini Robotics + Gemini Robotics-ER (Embodied Reasoning) released Mar-2025. VLA models built on Gemini 2.0 backbone. Reference platform: Apptronik Apollo. The DeepMind line of robotics-FM, descendant of earlier RT-1 / RT-2 / RT-X work.
- Physical Intelligence (π) T1
Founded 2024 by Sergey Levine (UC Berkeley) and Karol Hausman + others (ex-Google Brain Robotics). Building general-purpose robot foundation models (π0 released Oct-2024; π0.5 in 2025) trained on cross-embodiment robot trajectories. Raised $400M Series A (Nov-2024; Jeff Bezos, OpenAI, Thrive, Lux) at $2.4B val.
- 1X Technologies T2
Norway / US humanoid robot company — Eve (wheeled bimanual) + Neo (legged humanoid, consumer-targeted, late 2025 / 2026 launch). Raised $100M Series B (Jan-2024, EQT + OpenAI Startup Fund); $40M Series A (Mar-2023, OpenAI lead). Distinguishing feature: consumer-home positioning rather than industrial.
- Agility Robotics T2
Oregon-based humanoid maker; Digit is in production at GXO Logistics warehouses since Sep-2024 — claimed first humanoid in commercial service in the US. Spinout of Oregon State University. $400M+ raised (Amazon Industrial Innovation Fund participant).
- Apptronik T2
Apollo humanoid maker, spun out of University of Texas Human Centered Robotics Lab. Raised $350M Series A (Feb-2025; B Capital + Capital Factory); Mercedes-Benz manufacturing partner (Mar 2024). Partnered with Google DeepMind on Gemini Robotics (Mar 2025) — Apollo is the headline reference platform for Gemini Robotics.
- Collaborative Robotics T3
Founded 2022 by Brad Porter (ex-Amazon Robotics VP + Scale AI CTO). Stealthier than the humanoid pack; raised $100M Series B Apr-2024 (General Catalyst). Targets warehouse + healthcare collaborative robots.