Auto-assembled, not yet reviewed

openDog (V1)

James Bruton's original open-source brushless quadruped, built episode by episode.

Dormant. No upstream changes for two years or more. It may still build, but parts, firmware and docs may have drifted.

Last push to XRobots/openDog: 2020-04-20 (GitHub, checked 2026-10-01).

Successor: openDog V2 (XRobots/openDogV2), then openDog V3 (source)Repository activity

Reproducibility48/100Early source coverage, unverifiedCADBOMWIREFWBUILDLICREPHow it is computed
openDog (V1) open-source 12-DoF robot dog, 3D render from openDog P7.stp
main assembly 3D · openDog P7.stp

About openDog (V1)

openDog is James Bruton's (XRobots) pioneering open-source dog-like quadruped, developed across a YouTube build series. The repo code drives brushless motors through ODrive controllers from Part 2 onward. openDog V2 is a separate MIT-licensed repository and V3 followed; this repo was last updated in 2019. The repo collects the CAD (STEP/STL) and Arduino code for each episode rather than a single packaged build, making it a reference design and learning resource more than a turnkey kit.

Licenses

Hardware
GPL-3.0
Software
GPL-3.0
Docs
Not published

Degrees of freedom

12 DoF legs 12

Breakdown source

Quadrupedsource

How to build openDog (V1)

5 steps

Steps marked Motari summary condense the linked source; follow the source for exact instructions.

  1. Print and source per-episode parts

    Each Part folder holds the CAD (STEP or STL) and/or Arduino code from one episode of the YouTube series. There is no packaged BOM.

    Motari summarygithub.com/XRobots/openDog

  2. Build the legs

    The repo code drives the leg motors through ODrive controllers from Part2 onward; the part16 and part17 sketches control six ODrives. Linear actuator CAD is in Part3 and Part5.

    Motari summarygithub.com/XRobots/openDog

  3. Wire motors and controllers

    Connect the ODrives to the master board over serial. Remote code is in Part1, Part8 and part16, with remote CAD in Part1. No wiring schematic is published.

    Motari summarygithub.com/XRobots/openDog

  4. Flash the episode firmware

    Upload the matching Arduino .ino sketch for the leg/IK stage you are building.

    Motari summarygithub.com/XRobots/openDog

  5. Tune and walk

    Run the ODriveSetup routine in the part16 or part17 sketch (motor calibration, encoder index search, closed loop control), then drive the kinematic model from the remote.

    Motari summarygithub.com/XRobots/openDog
Print timenot published
Assembly timenot published

Wiring, power and firmware are safety-relevant and shown for reference only. Check them against the source before building.

openDog (V1) bill of materials

Cost to build

The sources do not publish a cost total.

No itemized bill of materials is published in the sources, so none is shown here.

  • README describes CAD and code for the openDog episode series and license, but does not provide an itemized build BOM in the inspected source. README.md

openDog (V1) source files

12 files

Files stay in the upstream repository under their own licenses; these links open them there. The 3D model on this page is Motari's conversion of the file named under Simulation.

openDog (V1) in simulation

Robot description files a simulator or CAD tool can load, linked at the commit they were found.

No URDF, MJCF, SDF, USD or Onshape model has been found in the sources.

The 3D specimen on this page is converted from Part7/openDog P7.stp at a978779.

Builds of openDog (V1)

0 reviewed

No reviewed builds of openDog (V1) yet.

A build log records the evidence (photos, a video, your repository), what the build cost, how long it took and what you changed. Each one is checked by Motari (until a maintainer claims this page) before it shows here, and reviewed builds count toward the reproducibility score.

Sources and provenance

Sources

Last push to XRobots/openDog: 2020-04-20 (checked 2026-10-01)

Related links

How this page was made

Assembled from public sources on 2026-06-04, not yet reviewed by the maintainer. Each figure links to where it is stated; a value the sources do not state reads "not published". Last source review: source-reviewed 2026-06-08.

Original files stay intact and separately licensed; Motari adds only the summary on this page. Maintainer? Request a correction or removal.

Badge for the README

Maintain openDog (V1)? Show its reproducibility score in the project's README. The badge links back to this page and updates with the score.

Badge: reproducibility 48/100

Markdown
[![Motari reproducibility score for openDog (V1)](https://motari.io/api/v1/badge/opendog)](https://motari.io/r/opendog)
HTML
<a href="https://motari.io/r/opendog"><img src="https://motari.io/api/v1/badge/opendog" alt="Motari reproducibility score for openDog (V1)" height="20"></a>

Not fully met yet: bom evidence, wiring diagram, build instructions (partial). The score is read from the project's own sources, so publishing what is missing is what raises it. A score of 90 or more needs a reviewed build. How the score is computed