Embodied AI Hackathon
Build Cooking & Home Robot with NVIDIA Jetson Thor
Ready to build the future of home robots? Join us for two epic hackathons where you’ll design Home Task and Cooking Robots and bring them to life in the HOME scene!
You’ll get hands-on with real robot kits powered by the NVIDIA Jetson platform, NVIDIA Isaac Sim, and LeRobot by Hugging Face. Hugging Face is also your hub for models, datasets, and tools in PyTorch, giving you everything you need to create real-world robotics breakthroughs.
Experiment with imitation learning, reinforcement learning, and VLA models like Isaac GR00T N1.5 to build affordable, capable robots that can take on everyday challenges.
Grab your spot, team up, and let’s hack the future of robotics together!
Where Did We Begin?
We’ve successfully hosted two on-site hackathons at Shenzhen Chian, and Mountain View U.S! Here every contestant will get hands-on with these robot kits deploying in home and cooking scenarios.
Contact us: [email protected]
Shenzhen, China
10/18-19, 2025
Bay Area U.S
10/25-26, 2025
Hardware Contestants Used
Hugging Face LeRobot: SO-ARM 101
Open-source 6-Axis 2 robot arms for end-to-end imitation learning
Data collection by teleoperation / simulation
- Collect dedicated behaviors as data from the follower arm, leader arm as a teacher, 20 episodes at least
- set up USB RGB cameras/3D-depth cameras to capture images
- support NVIDIA Issac Sim platform, able to import and control SO-ARM into it for movement collection
Train and deploy imitation/reinforcement Learning models
- ACT/Diffusion Policy/Pi0 for imitation learning
- VLA models such as SmolVLA/NVIDIA GR00T N1.5
- HiL-SERL for reinforcement learning
FashionStar StarAI Arm: Viola & Violin
Pre-assembled 7DoF robot arms for flexible and precise motion
7-DoF arm:
6 rotary joints + 1 gripper for dexterous motion
Bus servos:
Dual brushless servos, silent & smooth, 300g payload @ 470mm reach
Parallel gripper:
66mm opening, modular fingertips for custom tasks
Freeze function:
One-button hold to lock leader arm in any pose
Dev-ready:
Integrated with Hugging Face LeRobot in PyTorch, supports ROS2 & MoveIt 2
NVIDIA AGX Thor Developer Kit
The ultimate platform for physical AI and humanoid robotics
Jetson T5000 powered:
Up to 2070 TFLOPS (FP4) / 1035 TFLOPS (FP8), runs LLMs, VLAs (e.g. Isaac™ GR00T N), ViTs.
Optimized for multimodal workloads:
Transformer Engine, MIG, 128GB LPDDR5X (273 GB/s) for efficient training/inference.
High-bandwidth I/O:
4× 25GbE, 140W power, HDMI, DP, USB 3.2/Type-C, CAN, GbE—ideal for real-time sensor fusion.
NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin Developer Kit
Next-level AI performance for next-gen robotics
Advanced Architecture:
8× AI performance of Jetson AGX Xavier, powered by Ampere GPU (2048 CUDA cores, 64 Tensor cores) and 12-core Arm CPU
Massive AI Compute:
Up to 275 TOPS with power configurable from 15W to 60W; supports multiple concurrent AI pipelines
High-Speed I/O for Sensor Integration:
22× PCIe Gen4 lanes, 10GbE, 16× MIPI CSI-2 lanes, USB 3.2
Discover all AI robotics components
Shenzhen, China
Register as a contestant and submit your project idea
08/25-09/10/2025
Register as an observer / volunteer as hackathon mentor
08/25-10/16/2025
Online Q&A Session
09/11, 2025
Day 0 - Initial Pre-build, Prepare for In-person Final Hackathon
- Build up your team: 09/12/2025 – 09/19/2025
- Whole time period for Day 0 development: 09/12-10/17, 2025
Day 1 Hackathon (In-person)
10/18/2025
Day 2 Hackathon (In-person)
10/19/2025
Agenda (Subject to change):
- All timings are in China (GMT+8) time zone
- Location: Chaihuo Maker Space, B622, Vanke Cloud, Nanshan district, Shenzhen, China
- Contact: +86 13714200361
- Submit your project idea by email: [email protected]
Q&A session (online) | September 11, 2025
6:30 PM – 7:30 PM: Hackathon overview + Q&A
Day 0: Initial Pre-build | September 12, 2025
- Approved participants will receive a confirmation email from Seeed.
- Team union within 1 week (09/12-09/19)
- All approved contestants will be invited to join in WeChat group to call for more developers to join his/her team (suggest 6-7 members in one team). reach out Seeed assistant to get verification of WeChat group: +v: Rayyy0110)
- If your team doesn’t have any SO-ARM101/StarAI arm it:
- Arm kits will be shipped by September 12, 2025. (Each team needs to purchase one set of robot arms from the Seeed store. After the hackathon, we will refund the total amount for the one set of robot arm kit.)
- Start designing your project and building upon receiving the kit.
- If any team members in your team have already bought the robot arm kit at Seeed store before:
- The total amount for the robot arm kit will be refunded after the event. Please present your purchase record from Seeed to claim the refund
- Begin development once approved. (Only SO-ARM101 or StarAI kits are allowed to be used as the main robot in your project)
Day 1: First day to kickoff your group project on-site | October 18, 2025
- 9:00 AM – 9:30 AM: Check-in & Welcome
- 9:30 AM – 12:00 PM: Start post-training train your model
- 12:00 PM – 6:00 PM: Deployment
Day 2: Last day to showcase your demo on-site | October 19, 2025
- 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM: Project continues
- 12:00 PM – 6:00 PM: Submit project & Demo presentation
STEP 1 - Finish the following parts during the pre-build stage at home:
- Assemble and calibrate the robot arms, making it able to teleoperate.
- Collect datasets with real-world operation/simulation, train and evaluate your policy.
STEP 2 - Noted that you should bring your project to the on-site Hackathon to continue fine-tuning and final deployment on NVIDIA Jetson. Or there may not be enough time for you to deliver the best performance.
What HOST will provide:
- Robot kits: SO-ARM101, StarAI arms
- Limit NVIDIA AGX Thor developer kit, reComputer Robotics Jetson Orin edge AI computer
- USB camera, tripod, camera gantry, display, mouse & keyboard, USB hub, power strip
- 3D printer, screwers, toolkits for mechanical setting-up
● What CONTESTANTS are required to bring:
- Laptop computer, pre-installed Ubuntu 20/22 system and CUDA environment, no virtual machine allowed to use
- Screwers and mechanical tools (We’ll also prepare some, but it may not satisfy all needs)
- Scene props used in training policies (such as fruits that you may want the robot arm to grasp)
- USB hub with HDMI (We’ll also prepare some, but it may not satisfy all needs)
The judging panel will evaluate each team based on a combination of factors, including the completeness of submitted materials, project innovation, difficulty level, and audience voting. Based on the final scores, the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winning teams will be selected. All other teams will receive special event souvenirs from the organizer.
All participants should follow the requirements below to begin project development:
- Projects must use the NVIDIA Jetson Platform to complete edge deployment.
- Development must be based on LeRobot.
- Only SO-ARM 101 and Fashion Start Arm are allowed for use during the competition.
- Each team will have 10 minutes for a live demo and presentation.
Submission Deadline
All teams must submit their project materials by 4:30 PM on October 19, 2025. Please include:
- Rednote Post
- Project documentation / GitHub link
- Demo video
Send your submission to: [email protected]
Scoring Breakdown (Total: 100 Points)
- Project Completeness: 50%
- Innovation: 30%
- Audience Voting: 20%
- Bonus : use at least one of the following tech stacks: Isaac Sim / Isaac GR00T N1.5 will get extra points
- Grand Prize: 1x NVIDIA AGX Thor Developer Kit
- 2nd & 3rd Prizes will be sponsored by Hugging Face and Seeed Studio
- All contestants will receive an official certificate presented by Seeed Studio, NVIDIA, and Hugging Face.
- Check our FAQ list before you start. If your issue isn’t covered, feel free to ask on-site mentors or in the Discord channel/Wechat group
- To join WeChat group, please add Seeed community manager to get verification: +v: Rayyy0110
Bay Area, U.S.
Register as a contestant and submit your project idea
08/25/2025 – 09/17/2025
Register as an observer / volunteer as hackathon mentor
08/25/2025 – 10/24/2025
Online Q&A Session
09/18/2025
Day 0 - Initial Pre-build, Prepare for In-person Final Hackathon
- Build up your team: 09/18/2025 – 09/25/2025
- Whole time period for Day 0 development: 09/18-10/24, 2025
Day 1 Hackathon (In-person)
10/25/2025
Day 2 Hackathon (In-person)
10/26/2025
Agenda (Subject to change):
- All timings are PDT time zone
- Location: Bay Area California, U.S
- Submit your project idea by email: [email protected]
Pre-match Q&A session (online) | September 18, 2025
- 6:30 PM – 7:30 PM: Hackathon overview + Q&A
Day 0: Initial Pre-build | September 12, 2025
- Approved participants will receive a confirmation email from Seeed.
- Team union within 1 week (09/18-09/25)
- All approved contestants will be invited to join Discord channel to call for more developers to join his/her team (suggest 6-7 members in one team).
- If your team doesn’t have any SO-ARM101/StarAI arm it:
- Arm kits will be shipped by September 20, 2025. (Each team needs to purchase one set of robot arms from the Seeed store. After the hackathon, we will refund the total amount for one set of robot arm kit. )
- Start designing your project and building upon receiving the kit.
- If any team members in your team have already bought the robot arm kit at Seeed store before:
- The total amount for the robot arm kit will be refunded after the event. Please present your purchase record from Seeed to claim the refund
- Begin development once approved. (Only SO-ARM101 or StarAI kits are allowed to be used as the main robot in your project)
Day 1: First day to kickoff your group project on-site | October 25, 2025
- 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM: Welcome Remarks
- 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM: Welcome Message & Start post-training train your model
- 12:00 PM – 6:00 PM: Deployment
Day 2: Last day to showcase your demo on-site | October 26, 2025
- 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM: Project continues
- 12:00 PM – 6:00 PM: Submit project & Demo presentation
STEP 1 - Finish the following parts during the pre-build stage at home:
Assemble and calibrate the robot arms, making it able to teleoperate.
Collect datasets with real-world operation/simulation, train and evaluate your policy.
● STEP 2 - Noted that you should bring your project to the on-site Hackathon to continue fine-tuning and final deployment on NVIDIA Jetson. Or there may not be enough time for you to deliver the best performance.
What HOST'll provide
- Robot kits: SO-ARM101, StarAI arms
- NVIDIA AGX Thor developer kit, reComputer Robotics Jetson Orin edge AI computer
- USB camera, tripod, camera gantry, display, mouse & keyboard, USB hub, power strip
- 3D printer, screwers, toolkits for mechanical setting-up
What CONTESTANTS should prepare by themselves
- Laptop computer, pre-installed Ubuntu 20/22 system and CUDA environment, no virtual machine allowed to use
- Screwers and mechanical tool (We’ll also repare some but it may not satisfy all needs)
- Scene props used in training policies (such as fruits that you may want robot arm to grasp)
- USB hub with HDMI (We’ll also prepare some but it may not satisfy all needs)
The judging panel will evaluate each team based on a combination of factors, including the completeness of submitted materials, project innovation, difficulty level, and audience voting. Based on the final scores, the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winning teams will be selected. All other teams will receive special event souvenirs from the organizer.
All participants should follow the requirements below to begin project development:
- Projects must use the NVIDIA Jetson Platform to complete edge deployment.
- Development must be based on LeRobot.
- Only SO-ARM 101 and Fashion Start Arm are allowed for use during the competition.
- Each team will have 10 minutes for a live demo and presentation.
Submission Deadline
All teams must submit their project materials by 4:30 PM on October 26, 2025. Please include:
- Hackster Project Post
- Project documentation / GitHub link
- Demo video
Send your submission to: [email protected]
Scoring Breakdown (Total: 100 Points)
- Project Completeness: 50%
- Innovation: 30%
- Audience Voting: 20%
- Bonus : use at least one of the following tech stacks: Isaac Sim / Isaac GR00T N1.5 will get extra points
- Grand Prize: 1x NVIDIA AGX Thor Developer Kit
- 2nd & 3rd Prizes will be sponsored by Hugging Face and Seeed Studio
- All contestants will receive an official certificate presented by Seeed Studio, NVIDIA, and Hugging Face.
- Check our FAQ list before you start.
- If your issue isn’t covered, feel free to ask on-site mentors or in the Discord channel
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