UMOJA — Universal Modular Open Joint Assessment

About

UMOJA is meant to be a common language for open humanoid builders. It’s not “perfect benchmarking” — it’s a shared bar for seriousness, reproducibility, and basic capability.

How Certification Works (v0)

Mind Body Soul

Mind = can it do basic tasks (navigation, locomotion, manipulation) with clear demos?
Body = can it pass a robotics “PT test” (stability, speed, payload, endurance)?
Soul = is it truly open (license + CAD/BOM + build docs + reproducibility)?

For now, this page is a checklist. Later it becomes a standard: video proofs + logs + reproducible builds.

Mind — Capability Checklist

Basic intelligence: can the robot do common-sense tasks reliably?

“Science is what we understand well enough to explain to a computer. Art is everything else we do.”

— Donald E. Knuth

Mind (v0)

NavigationLocomotionManipulation

Perception + State Estimation Has a repeatable sensing stack (IMU + joint encoders + camera/LiDAR) and publishes pose/TF reliably.

Basic Navigation Can move from A→B in a simple indoor space (with obstacle avoidance). Provide a demo + map/log.

Locomotion Skill Can walk/step in a stable way (or roll if wheeled). Must show start/stop and directional control.

Manipulation Primitive Can pick-and-place a simple object on a table. Provide success rate across ≥10 trials.

Task Composition Demonstrates at least one multi-step task (navigate → reach → grasp → place) with a failure recovery behavior.

Mind: 0 / 5 checked

Body — Physical “PT Test”

Mechanical reality: strength, stability, speed, and endurance.

“Fatigue makes cowards of us all.”

— Vince Lombardi

Body (v0)

StabilitySpeedEndurance

Stand + Recover Can stand still for 60s and recover from a gentle push without falling.

Walk Test Covers a fixed distance (e.g., 10m) under control without stalling or unsafe oscillation. Include time.

Turn + Stop Can execute a 90° turn and stop cleanly (no drift / no falls) on command.

Payload / Force Demonstrates carrying or holding a known payload (e.g., 1kg) or exerting a measured end-effector force.

Endurance Runs continuously for ≥15 minutes (or a defined battery draw test) with logs and thermal notes.

Body: 0 / 5 checked

Soul — Openness & Reproducibility

No “open-washing”: can an independent builder replicate it?

“Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow.”

— Eric S. Raymond

Soul (v0)

LicenseDocsReproducible

Clear Open Hardware License Hardware is licensed (e.g., CERN-OHL or equivalent). License file is in the repo.

CAD + BOM Available Complete CAD + BOM + part sources provided (and not behind a paywall).

Build Guide Step-by-step assembly guide with photos/video + tooling list + calibration steps.

Software Reproducibility Pinned dependencies, setup instructions, and a minimal “bring-up” script/test.

Evidence of Replication At least one independent builder has replicated the system, or there is a public build log template.

Soul: 0 / 5 checked

Score

This is a quick readout so builders can say “we’re UMOJA-ready” without long debates. (For now it’s local-only; later we’ll standardize video proofs + logs.)

UMOJA v0 Readout

TBD

Mind: 0 / 5
Body: 0 / 5
Soul: 0 / 5

Suggested bar for “UMOJA Certified (v0)”: /5 in each category.

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