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.

翻译：近期，学习控制、大规模仿真与生成模型领域的进展加速了通用机器人控制器的发展，然而该领域仍缺乏适合在人类环境中安全、具表现力且长期部署的平台。现有仿人机器人多为封闭的工业系统或难以在人群中部署与操作的学术原型，这制约了机器人技术的进步。我们推出Sprout这一开发者平台，旨在通过强调安全性、表现力与开发者可及性来突破上述局限。Sprout采用轻量化构型，配备柔顺控制、受限关节扭矩与柔软外壳，以支持在人类共享空间中的安全运行。该平台在统一的软硬件架构中集成了全身控制、集成夹爪操作及基于虚拟现实的遥操作技术。其具表现力的头部进一步支持社交互动——这一领域在多数实用型仿人机器人中仍未得到充分探索。通过降低部署的物理与技术门槛，Sprout拓展了高性能仿人机器人平台的获取途径，并为在真实人类环境中开发具身智能提供了实践基础。