Robot Company Spotlight: K-Scale Labs

Video courtesy of Leon Ex Machina on Youtube.

At Project E.L.A., we believe in highlighting the innovators who are shaping the future of robotics. Today, we’re looking at K-Scale Labs, a U.S.-based company building one of the first fully open-source humanoid platforms.

What Makes K-Scale Labs Unique?

• Full-Stack Robotics Platform

  
  

  K-Scale isn’t just building hardware. They’ve released everything—the mechanical designs, the operating system, the APIs, and simulation environments—under open source. That means anyone can learn from, adapt, and extend their work.

• K-OS (K-Scale Operating System)

  
  

  Their custom OS, written in Rust, is designed for real-time robotics while still offering an accessible Python interface. This balance of safety, speed, and developer friendliness is rare in robotics.

• K-Sim and Sim-to-Real Training

  
  

  Simulation-first training is becoming a standard in robotics, and K-Scale has embraced it. Their K-Sim environment allows developers to train behaviors virtually and transfer them to physical robots.

• Community-Driven Approach

  
  

  With a growing developer ecosystem—hackathons, GitHub releases, Discord discussions—K-Scale is building momentum as a collaborative hub for roboticists and researchers.

Why We’re Watching Them

For Project E.L.A., K-Scale’s philosophy of openness and modularity aligns closely with our vision. While v0.1 of E.L.A. is focused on foundational embodiment, we see value in learning from how K-Scale builds a complete, transparent ecosystem. Their approach shows what’s possible when design, software, and community come together.

📺 Watch the Spotlight Video: K-Scale Labs Introduction

References

K-Scale Labs. (2024). K-Scale Labs introduction [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/NJHe0-HUgGQ?si=eY0S5K9MMOiNYo4B

RS Online. (2024, January 11). K-Scale Labs launches K-Bot, America’s first open-source humanoid robot. RS Online. https://www.rs-online.com/designspark/k-scale-labs-launches-k-bot-americas-first-open-source-humanoid-robot

K-Scale Labs. (n.d.). Documentation: Getting started. K-Scale Docs. https://docs.kscale.dev/docs/getting-started

K-Scale Labs. (n.d.). K-OS overview. K-Scale Docs. https://docs.kscale.dev/docs/kos