Auto-assembled, not yet reviewed

POPI

Open-source student-built quadruped with full CATIA CAD, BOM and ROS stack.

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

Last push to popi-mkx3/popi_project: 2021-08-02 (GitHub, checked 2026-10-01).

Successor: Walko (source)Repository activity

  • BSD-3-Clause
  • robot dog12 DoF
  • €5,052.33source total
Reproducibility80/100Strong source coverage, unverifiedCADBOMWIREFWBUILDLICREPHow it is computed
POPI open-source 12-DoF robot dog, 3D render from popi.urdf
main assembly 3D · popi.urdf

About POPI

POPI is a fully open-source quadruped robot designed and built from scratch by a team of ten mechatronics engineering students at IMT Mines d'Ales in France on a ~4k EUR, six-month budget. The repository is a complete documentation package rather than a printable kit: full CATIA mechanical CAD and 2D drawings, electrical schematics (power board, current sensors, encoder wheels, per-leg wiring), a costed bill of materials, an actuator data sheet, a user manual, and a ROS/C++ control stack built on the TOWR trajectory optimizer. Knee actuation uses TiMOTION linear actuators. The team announced a successor, Walko, planned as fully 3D-printed. POPI is best treated as an educational/research reference quadruped. POPI weighs about 70 kg, is about 1 m long and is powered through a tether from off-board 24V supplies.

Licenses

Hardware
BSD-3-Clause
Software
BSD-3-Clause
Docs
BSD-3-Clause

Degrees of freedom

12 DoF knee 4hipRoll 4hipPitch 4

Breakdown source

Quadrupedsource

How to build POPI

5 steps

Steps marked Motari summary condense the linked source; follow the source for exact instructions. Upstream step marks a step taken from the linked guide.

  1. Review the user manual

    Read POPI_user_manual.pdf in popi_reports for an overview of dimensions, actuators and system architecture.

    Upstream stepgithub.com/popi-mkx3/popi_project/blob/d5ef99c00292034743614...

  2. Fabricate the structure

    Machine the metal parts from the CATIA files and the drawings in popi_mechanics/mechanical_drawings; upstream used CNC milling, turning and water jet cutting. 3D print the printed parts and make the feet as described in POPI_Fabrication_pied.pdf.

    Motari summarygithub.com/popi-mkx3/popi_project/blob/master/popi_mechanics...

  3. Source actuators and parts

    Order motors, TiMOTION knee actuators and hardware per POPI_bill_of_materials.xlsx and POPI_actuators_data.xlsx.

    Motari summarygithub.com/popi-mkx3/popi_project/blob/master/popi_mechanics...

  4. Wire the electronics

    Build the power board and sensor boards and wire each leg following the schematics in popi_electronics.

    Motari summarygithub.com/popi-mkx3/popi_project/blob/master/popi_mechanics...

  5. Install the ROS stack

    On Ubuntu 18.04 with ROS Melodic, build popi_software as described in its README (tested versions are in CONFIGURATION.md), generate trajectories with Towr and test them in Gazebo. The real robot runs the published SD card images.

    Upstream stepgithub.com/popi-mkx3/popi_project/blob/d5ef99c00292034743614...
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.

POPI bill of materials

4 rows

Cost to build

€5,052.33EURsource total
  • 2019 team purchase list (actuators, electronics, onboard computers, raw material) before subsidies; no fasteners listed€5,052.33source total
  • the same list after 1427.10 EUR of subsidies€3,625.23source total

In the source currency, as read on 2026-09-30. Not converted, and not checked against current vendor prices: none of these is a Motari-verified checkout total.

POPI parts, as the source lists them. Prices are the source's, not checked against vendors.

POPI bill of materials
PartQtySpecSourceConfidence
Actuator setknee linear actuators, shoulder motors, reducers, and wing motors
14x TiMOTION MA2 linear actuators, 4x MY1016 24V 350W shoulder motors, 4x PLFE reducers, 4x MR977 wing motors
TiMOTION / CSMoto / Neugart / Bernio3476.80 EUR gross / 2676.80 EUR after TiMOTION subsidypopi_reports/POPI_bill_of_materials.xlsx sheet "Liste d'achat" rows 3-9
high
Electronics and wiring setpower supplies, motor controllers, sensors, encoders, switches and cabling
124V 40A supplies, USB power, Cytron controllers, current sensors, limit switches, encoders, wiring and protection parts
Banggood / RS / RobotShop / Farnell / mixed suppliers813.79 EUR gross / 391.87 EUR after Thales subsidypopi_reports/POPI_bill_of_materials.xlsx sheet "Liste d'achat" rows 13-38
high
Embedded compute setonboard compute listed in the official workbook
11x Raspberry Pi 3 B+ and 2x BeagleBone Black boards
RS / BeagleBoard ecosystem145.18 EUR gross / 0 EUR after Thales subsidypopi_reports/POPI_bill_of_materials.xlsx sheet "Liste d'achat" rows 42-46
high
Materials and mechanical stockaluminium plates, tube/profile stock, threaded rods and bushings
1aluminium plate and round stock, 20 mm tubing/profile, M5/M8/M12 threaded rods, SKF PCMF 202311.5 E bushings
mixed material suppliers / in-house stock616.56 EUR gross / 556.56 EUR after Thales subsidypopi_reports/POPI_bill_of_materials.xlsx sheet "Liste d'achat" rows 50-60
high

Rows from the source's own parts list 5

popi_reports/POPI_bill_of_materials.xlsx@d5ef99cxlsx

Source rowQtyPrice and vendorLine
POPI actuator set
4 linear actuators, 4 shoulder motors, 4 reducers, 4 wing motors
TiMOTION / CSMoto / Neugart / Bernio3476.80 EUR gross / 2676.80 EUR after subsidy
L3
POPI electronics and wiring set
electronics section rows 13-35
Banggood / RS / RobotShop / Farnell / mixed suppliers813.79 EUR gross / 391.87 EUR after subsidy
L13
POPI embedded compute set
1 Raspberry Pi 3 B+ and 2 BeagleBone Black boards
RS / BeagleBoard ecosystem145.18 EUR gross / 0 EUR after subsidy
L42
POPI materials and mechanical stock
materials section rows 50-57
mixed material suppliers / in-house stock616.56 EUR gross / 556.56 EUR after subsidy
L50
POPI workbook total
one complete project purchase list
POPI project5052.33 EUR gross / 3625.23 EUR after subsidies
L64

POPI source files

17 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.

POPI in simulation

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

The 3D specimen on this page is converted from popi_software/popi/popi_description/xacro/popi.urdf at d5ef99c.

Builds of POPI

0 reviewed

No reviewed builds of POPI 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 popi-mkx3/popi_project: 2021-08-02 (checked 2026-10-01)

Related links

How this page was made

Assembled from public sources on 2026-06-07, 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: official POPI workbook/source 2026-06-07.

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 POPI? Show its reproducibility score in the project's README. The badge links back to this page and updates with the score.

Badge: reproducibility 80/100

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

Not fully met yet: bom evidence (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