Genesis AMR
Open-Source · ROS 2 Jazzy · Mecanum Base · 5-DOF Manipulator
Genesis AMR : full system view. Mecanum mobile base with SO-101 5-DOF arm.
A low-cost, open-source autonomous mobile manipulator built from first principles , spanning the full robotics stack from bare-metal servo register programming to Vision-Language-Action (VLA) training.
Every subsystem is documented with the theory, the math, and the implementation. The goal: a single platform where every major robotics concept can be studied, built, and tested, end to end.
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What’s Inside
| Layer | Concepts Covered |
|---|---|
| Embedded / Firmware | Register-level servo control, ESP32 bare-metal drivers, BMS & power architecture |
| Kinematics | FK, IK (analytical + Newton-Raphson), servo ↔ joint space mapping, workspace visualization |
| Mobile Base | Mecanum wheel kinematics, wheel PID, omnidirectional teleoperation |
| Perception | Pinhole model, back-projection, depth recovery, hand-eye calibration, 3D pose estimation |
| Autonomy | SLAM, frontier exploration, A* global planning, RRT* dynamic replanning |
| Visual Servoing | IBVS and PBVS closed-loop manipulation |
| AI / Learning | VLA data collection pipeline, imitation learning, future RL integration |
Philosophy: every abstraction is earned. If a concept is used, the documentation shows where it comes from.
System Modules
🛞 Mobile Base
Omnidirectional 4-wheel mecanum drive with full teleoperation and autonomous modes.
- Xbox controller + MediaMTX live video stream
- Pan-tilt first-person view
- Good Boy Mode : autonomous search and retrieval of a green ball
- Frontier-based autonomous mapping (in progress)
- A* global planning + RRT* dynamic replanning (in progress)
🦾 Manipulator
5-DOF SO-101 arm with full kinematic chain and vision-guided control.
- Servo-to-joint space mapping with range limiting and register communication
- Forward kinematics : full chain implementation
- Inverse kinematics : analytical and Newton-Raphson numerical solver
- Blind pick-and-place with path interpolation
- GUI control with real-time workspace visualization
- 3D ball pose estimation
- IBVS : Image-Based Visual Servoing
- PBVS : Position-Based Visual Servoing
👁️ Perception
Camera model foundations through 3D object pose estimation.
- Pinhole camera model and projection math
- Back-projection and depth recovery
- Hand-eye calibration
- Object detection and 3D pose estimation
🗺️ Navigation & SLAM
Autonomous mapping and obstacle-aware path planning.
- LiDAR-based SLAM
- Frontier exploration
- A* for global path planning
- RRT* for dynamic replanning around obstacles
- (Simulation complete : hardware implementation in progress)
⚡ Hardware & Power
Electrical architecture, mechanical build, and BOM.
- 2× 4S 18650 packs : one dedicated to hardware motors and actuators, one to logic (RPi5 + ESP32)
- Per-rail buck converters
- Wiring diagrams and schematics
- (Power system restructure in progress for improved vibration resistance)
🧠 Learning & VLA
Data collection through autonomous skill acquisition.
- VLA data collection pipeline
- Imitation learning setup
- YOLO-based object classification and segmentation (planned)
- RL-based dexterous manipulation (planned)
Implementation Status
==Last updated: March 18, 2026==
| Subsystem | Feature | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Firmware | Register-level PWM + motor driver interface | ✅ |
| Firmware | Hardware quadrature encoder reading (PCNT) | ✅ |
| Firmware | Wheel PID (anti-windup, derivative filter …) | ✅ |
| Firmware | ESP32 ↔ RPi5 serial communication protocol | ✅ |
| Mobile Base | Mecanum kinematics (FK + IK) | ✅ |
| Mobile Base | Wheel odometry + TF2 broadcast | 🔧 |
| Mobile Base | IMU integration + EKF sensor fusion | 🔧 |
| Mobile Base | Good Boy autonomous ball retrieval | ✅ |
| Mobile Base | Frontier exploration + SLAM | 🔧 |
| Mobile Base | A* / RRT* autonomous navigation | 🗓️ |
| Mobile Base | Obstacle detection | 🗓️ |
| Mobile Base | Power system restructure | 🧪 |
| Manipulator | Servo ↔ joint space mapping | ✅ |
| Manipulator | Forward kinematics (PoE) | ✅ |
| Manipulator | Analytical + Newton-Raphson IK | ✅ |
| Manipulator | GUI + workspace visualization | ✅ |
| Manipulator | Open-loop pick-and-place | ✅ |
| Manipulator | IBVS + PBVS visual servoing | ✅ |
| Manipulator | 3D ball pose estimation | ✅ |
| Manipulator | MoveIt2 integration + ros2_control bridge | 🗓️ |
| Manipulator | Collision + self-collision avoidance | 🗓️ |
| Manipulator | Grasp planning | 🗓️ |
| Manipulator | Whole-body coordination (base + arm) | 🗓️ |
| Manipulator | YOLO object classification + segmentation | 🗓️ |
| Perception | Camera intrinsic calibration | ✅ |
| Perception | Hand-eye calibration | ✅ |
| Perception | LiDAR integration + scan filtering | ✅ |
| Perception | Depth camera pipeline | 🗓️ |
| Perception | 6-DOF object pose estimation | 🔧 |
| Teleoperation | Gamepad teleop (base + arm ) | ✅ |
| Teleoperation | MediaMTX live video stream | ✅ |
| Teleoperation | Custom handheld controller (6-DOF + screen) | 🗓️ |
| Teleoperation | Leader-follower arm teleoperation | 🗓️ |
| Teleoperation | Phone / web teleoperation | 🗓️ |
| Teleoperation | VR teleoperation (Quest 3) | 🗓️ |
| System | Zenoh distributed compute (RPi5 ↔ dev machine) | 🧪 |
| System | rosbag2 logging + telemetry pipeline | 🗓️ |
| Learning | LeRobot data recording pipeline | 🗓️ |
| Learning | VLA data collection pipeline | 🗓️ |
| Learning | Imitation learning | 🗓️ |
| Learning | Dataset management + versioning | 🗓️ |
| Learning | Sim-to-real transfer | 🗓️ |
| Learning | RL dexterous manipulation | 🗓️ |
| Simulation | Gazebo + ROS2 integration (URDF, sensors) | 🧪 |
| Simulation | MuJoCo digital twin + system identification | 💭 |
| Simulation | Isaac Lab parallel env + domain randomization | 💭 |
| Simulation | RL policy training (PPO / SAC) | 💭 |
✅ Complete · 🧪 Testing · 🔧 In Progress · 🗓️ Planned · 💭 Under Consideration
Hardware Overview
| Component | Details |
|---|---|
| Compute | Raspberry Pi 5 + 2× ESP32 |
| Arm | SO-101 · 5-DOF · Serial servo bus |
| Base | Mecanum wheels · 4-motor drive |
| Sensing | Dual RGB cameras · LiDAR·IMU |
| Middleware | ROS 2 Jazzy · Zenoh DDS bridge |
| Power | 8x18650 · BMS · Per-rail buck converters |
Built by Claude Daniel Jacquet · MS Robotics, Purdue University