MEVION: Low-Cost Open-Source Data Collection System for Powerful and High-Speed Dual-Arm Manipulation

2026-07-20

AI Summary

This work addresses the limitations of existing low-cost, open-source dual-arm systems—such as ALOHA—which struggle to simultaneously achieve high force and high speed, thereby restricting their capability in heavy-object manipulation and rapid motion tasks. The authors propose a novel, low-cost, open-source dual-arm data collection system featuring a sheet-metal welded structure and a closed-chain elbow joint design. This architecture significantly enhances torque output (up to 60 Nm per arm) and motion speed while reducing end-effector mass. The entire system costs approximately $14,000, weighs 7.0 kg per arm, and is constructed entirely from off-the-shelf components available through e-commerce platforms, enabling straightforward assembly. For the first time, this platform enables previously infeasible high-dynamic bimanual manipulation and supports complex motion generation via imitation learning.

Abstract

The global competition for developing robotic foundation models is intensifying. Among the data collection systems used for dual-arm robots, ALOHA is representative of being low-cost and open-source, and is widely adopted by researchers as a de facto standard. However, due to its limited ability to generate high forces and speeds, it is difficult to handle heavy objects or perform fast manipulations. To address this, we developed MEVION, a low-cost and open-source dual-arm robot data collection system capable of generating greater force and speed. All parts of this robot can be sourced through e-commerce, and by extensively utilizing sheet metal welding, its large body structure is constructed with a small number of components at low cost, while also simplifying assembly. MEVION is equipped with four 6-DoF arms with parallel grippers. Each arm weighs 7.0 kg and has a maximum torque of 60 Nm, and the entire system can be constructed for about USD 14,000. The elbow joint adopts a closed-link mechanism similar to those used in quadruped robots, which reduces the distal mass and enables higher force and speed output at the end-effector. We demonstrate that MEVION enables data collection for object manipulation tasks not previously possible and supports imitation learning-based motion generation. All hardware and software of this work are included in the Supplementary Materials or https://github.com/haraduka/mevion.

Problem

• dual-arm manipulation
• data collection system
• high-speed manipulation
• high-force manipulation
• robotic foundation models

Innovation

• dual-arm manipulation
• low-cost robotics
• closed-link mechanism
• open-source robot
• high-speed forceful manipulation