SwayForm Robotics

Why I built SwayForm

Students hear about AI and robotics constantly, but most never get to build, program, troubleshoot, and understand a real robotic system before college. I started SwayForm to close that gap.

Building Spookey, my own humanoid robot, taught me firsthand how much is actually involved in getting a robot to move, sense, and respond, and how little of that most students ever get to touch. SwayForm grew out of wanting to hand that experience to more people, earlier.

SwayForm Robotics is an educational humanoid robotics platform built for high schools and community colleges. Every unit is a 21-DOF humanoid robot running Linux and ROS 2 on an onboard Raspberry Pi, paired with a free curriculum and guided labs so students can go straight from unboxing to writing real code on real hardware.

“What I cannot create, I do not understand.” — Richard Feynman

That idea is the whole premise behind SwayForm. Reading about robotics and automation isn't the same as building and debugging it yourself, and I don't think students should be left behind by the tools that are going to shape the next decade of work. Kids who get hands-on with robotics early are in a much better position to end up guiding these systems later, instead of just reacting to them.

What it is

Every robot runs real ROS 2 and Python on physical hardware, not a simulator. The curriculum currently covers 10 guided labs and is expanding to 40 across four levels, plus five demo programs (Wave, Handshake, Pick and Place, Rock Paper Scissors, and Interactive Exchange) so students can see results early and keep building from there. Student code goes through automated checks and instructor review before it ever runs on the robot, and everything (control, perception, all of it) runs locally on the robot itself. No internet required, no cloud dependency, no invisible infrastructure standing between a student and their work.

I also designed around affordability: replacement 3D-printed parts cost under $20, so a classroom robot doesn't become unusable after the first broken part.

What it's for

The goal is simple: bring real robotics into every classroom. Not a watered-down kit, and not a lecture about robots: an actual machine students can build, program, and understand. I want the people who grow up with this technology to be confident around it, not intimidated by it. The future gets built by people who understand the systems shaping it, and that understanding has to start somewhere hands-on.

SwayForm Robotics is registered as an LLC in Georgia, and is currently open for pilot interest, with commercial availability targeted for Fall 2027.