Robots, software and AI models: what's the difference?
Start here. Robotheca holds three kinds of open-source things that work together: the body, the tools and the brain.
RobotsThe body
The physical machine you build: 3D-printed parts, motors and electronics, with the parts list, the files and the guide to put them together.
Example: the SO-101 arm and the JPL Open Source Rover.
See the 374 robotsSoftwareThe nervous system and the tools
Programs written by people that you install to control a robot: drive its motors, plan a path, map a room, or try it all in a simulator before you build.
Example: PX4, MoveIt and MuJoCo.
See the 646 softwareAI modelsThe learned skills
A trained brain: nobody writes it line by line, it learns from thousands of examples. You download it and give it to your robot.
Example: OpenVLA (show it a camera image, say “pick up the red cube”, and it decides the movements. Or a model that taught a robot dog to walk in simulation.)
See the 71 ai models
How they fit together
On Robotheca the three are linked: the body (the SO-101 arm), the tools (LeRobot) and the brain (an AI model trained for the SO-101 with LeRobot). Each robot's page lists the software that runs on it, and each software or AI model page lists the robots that can run it.
Your first build
Start with a beginner robot whose parts list and guide are complete. Each robot shows a buildability score: how complete its published files are for rebuilding it.