Booster K1 — Unit 0 Orientation

Quickstart: Before You Begin

Read this before you power on the K1. This page covers the complete hardware checklist, safety requirements, time estimates, software prerequisites, and simulation options. Humanoid setup is more involved than a desktop arm — plan accordingly.

Read First

Safety Before Everything

The Booster K1 is a full-size bipedal humanoid weighing approximately 55 kg. Unlike a desktop robot arm, it can fall, swing limbs, and cause serious injury if operated incorrectly. These rules are non-negotiable.

⚠ Mandatory Safety Requirements — Read Before Powering On

Maintain a minimum 3 m × 3 m clear workspace around the K1 at all times. No chairs, cables, or people inside this perimeter during operation.
Emergency stop must be within reach of the operator at all times. Test the e-stop before every session. Never operate without a functioning e-stop.
A second person (spotter) must be present during all WALK mode tests, any CUSTOM mode, and any time the robot is not in DAMP mode.
Never transition to WALK mode without first stabilizing in PREP for at least 3 full seconds.
Keep the K1 on a rubber safety mat during all sessions. Falls can damage the robot and injure people.
If the K1 begins to fall, do not attempt to catch it. Step back immediately and let it fall to the mat.

See the full Safety page for detailed workspace protocols, PPE requirements, and incident response procedures.

Time Commitment

How Long Does This Take?

Humanoid setup is significantly more involved than a tabletop arm. Plan for two days minimum. Do not rush the safety and calibration steps.

Safety & workspace

~45m

Clear area, install safety mat, test e-stop, inspect joints

Hardware unboxing

~30m

Unpack, inspect, connect power supply and Ethernet

Network & boot

~30m

Ethernet config (192.168.10.10), SSH, service verification

SDK install

~45m

Ubuntu, Python SDK, ROS2 bridge node

First motion test

~1h

DAMP → PREP → first WALK commands with spotter

Upper body & teleop

~1h

Head pose control, arm gestures, CUSTOM mode (with fixture)

Total first-day time: roughly 4 hours for initial setup and first locomotion test. Data collection and teleoperation setup typically require a second session.

What You Need

Hardware Checklist

Everything that must be present before you power on the K1. Do not skip items. Items marked "in the box" ship with the K1.

✓

Booster K1 unit In the box — full-size bipedal humanoid, 22 DOF, ~55 kg. Handle the packaging with at least two people.
✓

Power supply and AC cable In the box — proprietary Booster power brick. Verify it is undamaged. Do not substitute a third-party supply.
✓

Emergency stop (e-stop) unit In the box — wired e-stop button. Test it during every session before starting motion. This is mandatory.
✓

Network cable (Cat5e or better, ≥2 m) Not included — connects your host PC directly to the K1's Ethernet port. The K1 uses a wired Ethernet interface at 192.168.10.102; your PC must be set to 192.168.10.10.
✓

Safety mat (≥4 m × 4 m, foam or rubber) Not included — required under and around the K1 during all sessions. A gymnastics crash mat or rubber gym flooring works well. This protects both the robot and people.
✓

3 m × 3 m clear floor area Not included — remove all furniture, cables, and objects from the operational area. Secure any cables that cross the floor.
✓

Host PC running Ubuntu 22.04 Not included — native Ubuntu install recommended. Minimum: 16 GB RAM, 100 GB disk, Intel i7 or equivalent. Download Ubuntu →
✓

A second person (spotter) Required during all locomotion tests — never operate WALK or CUSTOM mode alone. The spotter's role is to hit the e-stop if needed.

Software Prerequisites

What to Install Before You Start

The Software page walks through each step in detail. This is the summary so you can prepare in advance.

Operating System

Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (Jammy). Required for ROS2 Humble compatibility and the Booster SDK. macOS and Windows are not supported for hardware operation.

Python

Python 3.10+ (bundled with Ubuntu 22.04). Install pip and venv:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install python3-pip python3-venv -y

Booster SDK

pip install booster_robotics_sdk_python

The official PyPI package. Provides the Python interface to all K1 control modes. See the Software page for full setup.

ROS2 Humble

Required for whole-body control integration and the ros2_control bridge. Full installation takes ~20 minutes:

sudo apt install ros-humble-desktop ros-humble-ros2-control \
  ros-humble-ros2-controllers -y

Simulation (optional — no hardware needed)

✓ Simulation available

MuJoCo and NVIDIA Isaac Sim both support the Booster K1 URDF model (included with the SDK). You can test locomotion and upper-body control policies in simulation before deploying to the real robot:

pip install mujoco
# Clone the K1 MuJoCo model
git clone https://github.com/BoosterRobotics/booster_gym.git
python booster_gym/examples/walk_sim.py

Isaac Sim humanoid support requires an NVIDIA GPU and Isaac license. See the Software → Simulation section for setup.

End Goal

What You Can Do After Full Setup

After completing all setup steps — safety, network, SDK, locomotion, and teleoperation — you will be able to:

✓ Command stable standing, walking, and lateral movement via the Python SDK

✓ Read and command all 22 joint states in real time over Ethernet

✓ Control head pose and upper-body arm gestures with predefined motion primitives

✓ Run the ROS2 bridge node to integrate K1 into a full ros2_control pipeline

✓ Stream full joint telemetry to the RoboticsCenter platform via k1_agent.py

✓ Record whole-body demonstration datasets and run MuJoCo simulation for policy testing

Support

How to Get Help

Humanoid setup has more surface area than a desktop arm. Use these resources when you get stuck.

💬

Ready? Read Safety First, Then Start Setup.

The Safety page is required reading for all new K1 operators. Then proceed to the full Setup Guide.

Read Safety Page → Start Setup Guide → Request K1