# Fauna Sprout: A lightweight, approachable, developer-ready humanoid robot

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.18963 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.18963/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 29 of its 56 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 26 Jan 2026.

## Builds on (most cited first, 29 of 29)

- [Do As I Can, Not As I Say: Grounding Language in Robotic Affordances](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.01691/) (2022)
- [RT-1: Robotics Transformer for Real-World Control at Scale](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.06817/) (2022)
- [π0.5: a Vision-Language-Action Model with Open-World Generalization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.16054/) (2025)
- [GR00T N1: An Open Foundation Model for Generalist Humanoid Robots](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.14734/) (2025)
- [Code as Policies: Language Model Programs for Embodied Control](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.07753/) (2022)
- [ORB-SLAM3: An Accurate Open-Source Library for Visual, Visual-Inertial and Multi-Map SLAM](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2007.11898/) (2020)
- [Learning Dexterous In-Hand Manipulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1808.00177/) (2018)
- [Sim-to-Real Transfer of Robotic Control with Dynamics Randomization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1710.06537/) (2017)
- [Learning to Walk in Minutes Using Massively Parallel Deep Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2109.11978/) (2021)
- [Learning agile and dynamic motor skills for legged robots](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1901.08652/) (2019)
- [π*0.6: a VLA That Learns From Experience](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.14759/) (2025)
- [Robot Operating System 2: Design, Architecture, and Uses In The Wild](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2211.07752/) (2022)
- [Emergence of Locomotion Behaviours in Rich Environments](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1707.02286/) (2017)
- [Gemini Robotics 1.5: Pushing the Frontier of Generalist Robots with Advanced Embodied Reasoning, Thinking, and Motion Transfer](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.03342/) (2025)
- [OPEN TEACH: A Versatile Teleoperation System for Robotic Manipulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.07870/) (2024)
- [DTC: Deep Tracking Control](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.15462/) (2023)
- [TWIST2: Scalable, Portable, and Holistic Humanoid Data Collection System](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.02832/) (2025)
- [Berkeley Humanoid: A Research Platform for Learning-based Control](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.21781/) (2024)
- [Learning Force Control for Legged Manipulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.01402/) (2024)
- [Design and Control of a Bipedal Robotic Character](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.05204/) (2025)
- [SoftMimic: Learning Compliant Whole-body Control from Examples](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.17792/) (2025)
- [Towards bridging the gap: Systematic sim-to-real transfer for diverse legged robots](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.06342/) (2025)
- [Cerberus: Low-Drift Visual-Inertial-Leg Odometry For Agile Locomotion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.07654/) (2022)
- [ToddlerBot: Open-Source ML-Compatible Humanoid Platform for Loco-Manipulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.00893/) (2025)
- [Regulated Pure Pursuit for Robot Path Tracking](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.20026/) (2023)
- [Olaf: Bringing an Animated Character to Life in the Physical World](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.16705/) (2025)
- [Agile and Generalized Legged Locomotion via Attention-Based Neural Map Encoding](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.08485/) (2026)
- [GeoFlow-SLAM: A Robust Tightly-Coupled RGBD-Inertial and Legged Odometry Fusion SLAM for Dynamic Legged Robotics](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.14247/) (2025)
- [2DLIW-SLAM:2D LiDAR-Inertial-Wheel Odometry with Real-Time Loop Closure](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.07644/) (2024)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Recent advances in learned control, large-scale simulation, and generative models have accelerated progress toward general-purpose robotic controllers, yet the field still lacks platforms suitable for safe, expressive, long-term deployment in human environments. Most existing humanoids are either closed industrial systems or academic prototypes that are difficult to deploy and operate around people, limiting progress in robotics. We introduce Sprout, a developer platform designed to address these limitations through an emphasis on safety, expressivity, and developer accessibility. Sprout adopts a lightweight form factor with compliant control, limited joint torques, and soft exteriors to support safe operation in shared human spaces. The platform integrates whole-body control, manipulation with integrated grippers, and virtual-reality-based teleoperation within a unified hardware-software stack. An expressive head further enables social interaction -- a domain that remains underexplored on most utilitarian humanoids. By lowering physical and technical barriers to deployment, Sprout expands access to capable humanoid platforms and provides a practical basis for developing embodied intelligence in real human environments.