Carnegie Mellon University, Siddhartha Srinivasa lab · research humanoid
HERB
Home Exploring Robot Butler
A two-armed butler robot on a Segway base with a pan-tilt camera head, used to research household manipulation such as kitchen tasks. It counts here as a wheeled humanoid only loosely: it has arms and a head but a mast rather than a human-like torso.
- Price
- —Not published
- Height
- —Not published
- Weight
- —Not published
- Payload
- —Not published
- Speed
- —Not published
- Battery
- —Not published
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Why it matters
A research humanoid from Carnegie Mellon University (later University of Washington), Siddhartha Srinivasa lab.
Real-world use
Intel (early funder/partner); Oreo 'Cookie vs. Creme' campaign video (2013)
Timeline
- First shown
- 2006
- Released
- Not yet
Maker
Carnegie Mellon University, Siddhartha Srinivasa labUniversity lab · founded 1900 · Pittsburgh, United StatesPrivate university (endowment about 4.29 billion dollars, 2025); HERB's initial funding came from Intel and the NSF-backed Quality of Life…
What it has been shown doing
2 of 14 skills we track, each from a public video or report. Demos can be staged or remote-controlled; we say so when the source does.
- Kitchen workunloads a dishwasher (sometimes denting dishes) · Sep 2014 · washingtonpost.com
- Fine dexterityseparates an Oreo cookie from its cream, about 2 in 10 success · Sep 2014 · washingtonpost.com
Not shown yet:SortAssembleFoldToolsStairsTerrainGet upRunJumpCarryOn siteAutonomous
Public attention
How much public attention HERB (Home Exploring Robot Butler) gets, from open data.
- No Wikipedia article of its own yet
- 3 news stories from reputable press listed on this page
Measures how much people read and write about a robot, not how good it is. Measured 2026-10-13; same method for every robot. How it is measured
What’s inside
The parts the company has talked about publicly.
- Movement
- Wheeled base
- Actuators & motors
- Two 7-DoF Barrett WAM arms (compliant, for safer contact with people) on a Segway RMP 200 base; 27 DoF in total (head 2, arms 7 x 2, hands 4 x 2, base 3).
- Hands
- 4 DoF per hand; three-fingered grippers.
- Sensors & vision
- SLR camera, gigabit-Ethernet monocular camera, RGB-D camera, custom spinning 3D laser, infrared navigation system, planar base lasers, microphone, tactile pads, force-torque sensors and strain gauges.
- Compute
- Three on-board Dell Precision M6500 mobile workstations, each with 12 GB RAM and a 256 GB SSD.
- Battery & power
- Two 56 V, 20 Ah lithium-ion packs for arms, computers and sensors, plus the Segway's own lithium-ion batteries; HERB 2.0 ran up to about six hours untethered.
- Materials & build
- 140 cm tall, 127 kg; custom electronics, cooling and power in the 2010 redesign.
- AI & software
- Linux with custom control software and ROS integration; object recognition, grasp and motion planning, and real-time 3D mapping for manipulation in clutter.
- Other details
- Top speed about 5.4 km/h. Initial funding from Intel and the NSF-backed Quality of Life Technology Center. Demonstrations included microwaving food, carrying a tray, and separating Oreo cookies.
Named suppliers:ROS (Open Robotics)
From the maker
HERB (Home Exploring Robot Butler) is the only humanoid from Carnegie Mellon University (later University of Washington), Siddhartha Srinivasa lab in the atlas.
Watch HERB (Home Exploring Robot Butler)
Made, sold and where
Unit counts are usually company figures; analysts often disagree.
- Price
- Not published
- How to get one
- No official buying page found
- Built
- 1 evolving platform (Busboy 2006, HERB 1.0 2008, HERB 2.0 2010)
- Sold or delivered
- Not sold; research robot
- Where it is sold or used
- Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, US; lab later moved to the University of Washington
- Customers and pilots
- Intel (early funder/partner); Oreo 'Cookie vs. Creme' campaign video (2013)
News
The latest 3, newest first. Summaries are ours; tap through for the original.
- A decade into HERB, clutter is the next challenge
WESA reported that ten years in, CMU was teaching HERB to push clutter aside with its whole arm.
WESA - HERB Debuts in Oreo "Cookie vs. Creme" Video
HERB separated an Oreo and scraped off its creme in a campaign video that debuted March 8, 2013.
Carnegie Mellon University - Lessons from HERB 2.0 published
Srinivasa and colleagues published lessons from building HERB 2.0 in the Proceedings of the IEEE.
UW Personal Robotics Lab
Side by side with its peers
Picked by the same rules for every humanoid: another maker’s robot that moves the same way, is at the same stage and does at least one of the same main jobs, first shown within two years. Closer size and price rank higher. How we choose
| Measure | HERB (Home Exploring Robot Butler)Carnegie Mellon University (later University of Washington), Siddhartha Srinivasa lab |  JustinaUNAM Bio-Robotics Laboratory, School of Engineering (team Pumas, Jesus Savage)Same job: home · Both on wheels · Both research platforms |  TWENDY-ONEWaseda University (Shigeki Sugano lab)Same job: home · Both on wheels · Both research platforms |  Rollin' JustinGerman Aerospace Center (DLR)Same job: home · Both on wheels · Both research platforms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First shown | 2006 | 2006 | 2007-11 | 2008-06 |
| Status | Research | Research | Research | Research |
| Height | — | — | 147 cm | 191 cm |
| Weight | — | — | 111 kg | 200 kg |
| Joints | — | — | — | 51 |
| Speed | — | — | — | 7.2 km/h |
| Payload | — | — | — | 20 kg |
| Battery | — | — | — | 1 h |
| Price | — | — | — | — |
Sources
Figures come from press coverage. Every link below backs something on this page.
Photos and logos only identify each robot and its maker. Simbeing is not affiliated with, sponsored by or endorsing any company, and nothing here is advertising. Figures are for statistics only and are not advice of any kind. Terms of use