Supply Chain
The goal of open-sourcing Asimov is to create a competitive, open, and permissionless supply chain that brings the annualized total cost of ownership (TCO) of a humanoid robot down to ~$30,000. We achieve this through the same pattern that transformed personal computing: open standards, multiple OEMs, and an operating system that ties everything together.
The PC Market Analogy
Consider the personal computer industry before Windows: manufacturers built proprietary systems with incompatible components. Each company that wanted a computer had to design everything from scratch—or pay enormous licensing fees.
Windows changed this. By providing a common operating system layer, Windows enabled an ecosystem:
- Component manufacturers (processors, drives, displays) competed on price and performance
- OEMs (Dell, HP, Lenovo) assembled systems, competing on quality, reliability, and price
- Software developers built applications for a massive, standardized install base
- Customers benefited from falling prices and increasing capability
The result: a 100,000 workstation from 1990. Competition and standardization drove cost collapse.
Asimov’s Supply Chain Model
We apply the same pattern to humanoid robotics:
Open Reference Designs
Menlo publishes open-source humanoid reference designs that implement Asimov OS hardware requirements. These designs specify the interfaces and specifications that components must meet—without dictating how manufacturers build them.
OEM Manufacturing Partners
OEM manufacturing partners take these reference designs and scale manufacturing. They compete on:
- Price — Driving down BOM costs through volume and efficiency
- Quality — Reliability, durability, and manufacturing precision
- Component innovation — Better actuators, sensors, and compute
Each partner builds the same humanoid form factor but can differentiate on the components inside.
Asimov OS Licensing
Asimov OS is licensed to manufacturing partners on a royalty basis—similar to how Windows OS is licensed to PC OEMs. This licensing model:
- Funds ongoing development of the Menlo Stack
- Maintains quality standards across the ecosystem
- Creates a sustainable business model focused on intelligence, not hardware
The “Just Works” Humanoid
Once assembled, OEM manufacturing partners install Asimov OS. This establishes the secure link from Menlo Platform to the robot, enabling:
- Base locomotion policies — The robot can walk and balance out of the box
- Motor skills — Pre-trained skills like manipulation and navigation
- Default AI Agent — A starting point for customization
The manufacturing partner ships a “just works” humanoid to customers—no assembly required, no integration expertise needed.
Open and Permissionless
We deliberately avoid lock-in, proprietary supply chains, or exclusive partnerships. Our goal is:
- Anyone can become a manufacturing partner
- Component suppliers compete openly for OEM business
- Customers choose from multiple vendors, form factors, and price points
This permissionless approach accelerates cost collapse. When every supplier knows they compete on merit, innovation accelerates and prices fall.
The $30,000 Annualized TCO Target
A $30,000 annualized TCO isn’t achieved through any single innovation. It’s the natural result of:
- Competition among component suppliers driving down actuator, sensor, and compute costs
- Multiple OEMs competing on manufacturing efficiency
- Standardized interfaces enabling interchangeable components
- Asimov OS providing the intelligence layer that makes the hardware useful
The open supply chain creates the economic conditions for economically viable humanoid labor. Menlo provides the stack that makes them matter.