Open source for awkward robots

Jan Liphardt, CEO of OpenMind, discusses OM1, an open-source operating system for humanoid robots. The architecture uses natural language as the internal communication layer between models (vision, battery, inertial, etc.), fusing their outputs into paragraphs that a system of LLMs uses to decide the robot's next action. A 'mother' or referee model periodically coaches the robot's behavior. Asimov's Laws of Robotics are encoded in natural language on Ethereum smart contracts for immutable governance. The platform targets social and cognitive robot tasks (healthcare, education, companionship) rather than precision movement. OpenMind envisions an open app store for humanoids, analogous to mobile app stores, so developers worldwide can contribute skills. Liphardt also discusses the rapid hardware commoditization in China, remaining gaps like self-charging and quiet locomotion, and broader societal questions around regulation, liability, and workforce disruption from AI and robotics.