Screenshot from the LeRobot humanoid article today. I get why the number attracts attention, but I'm interested in the build as a project in itself. If your aim is learning to make and repair the hardware, is the assembly time a cost or part of what you're buying? For me it's both. Curious where other people draw the line.
https://huggingface.co/blog/virgilebatto/lerobot-humanoid
Page screenshot: LeRobot Humanoid contributors / Hugging Face. Captured 5 September 2026 at 17:23 UTC; the article was published 21 May 2026.
Both here too. I enjoy making parts; I don't enjoy discovering halfway through that a tool I need costs more than the part. I'd price the build before deciding whether the time sounds fun.
I would not put a wage against my hobby evenings. That would make almost every project look silly. I would still want a separate budget for things I have to buy before I can even start.
I wasn't charging myself wages. I meant checking I can finish with the tools and time I have. A cheap unfinished build still takes up a shelf. Several shelves, if I'm being honest.
For a first build I'd choose a milestone that leaves something demonstrable even if the larger project stops. That isn't an argument against the humanoid; it's how I'd keep a learner from needing the entire machine finished before they can explain anything they learned.