Welcome, Origin!
Origin is a stationary two armed industrial robot from HIRO Industries, an Oregon robotics startup founded in Corvallis. Rather than relying on legged mobility, it uses a fixed base that places two arms at a human style workstation, supporting deployment in established work areas. The system is intended for light industrial and warehouse workstation activity, particularly repetitive goods handling. Origin stands 160 centimetres tall and has 17 overall degrees of freedom, including 16 in its hands. Its end effectors use two finger gripping claws, prioritising practical pickup and placement over humanlike hand form. Three RGB D cameras provide visual sensing, with one camera mounted on the head and one on each wrist. RGB video reaches 1280 by 800 resolution at up to 60 frames per second, while depth sensing reaches the same resolution at up to 30 frames per second. The robot is designed for safe operation alongside people and can share a workbench with human coworkers. Its black form and fixed station architecture reflect a focused approach to accessible automation.
Origin has an early stage Humanoid.Guide Skill Score of 2 out of 10, with navigation rated 1 out of 5 and manipulation rated 1 out of 5. These ratings place it in the preliminary stage, aligning with its deliberately constrained workstation role rather than a general purpose mobile humanoid platform. Obstacle avoidance supports safer positioning and motion around the immediate work area, helping the robot operate near people, benches, containers, and task materials. Sorting goods is a central practical use case, enabled by paired arms, wrist mounted vision, and gripping claws that can engage items within a defined station. The head mounted RGB D camera and the two wrist cameras give multiple viewpoints for locating goods and monitoring arm interactions. This sensing arrangement supports repeatable handling workflows where visual awareness and clear item separation are important.
Origin is listed as a prototype and is offered through an inquiry process, with a stated price of 55 000 USD. HIRO Industries positions the system for businesses seeking a practical entry point into workstation automation rather than a complete redesign of their facilities. The company was founded by Lex Roller and Ethan Marreel, combining experience in industrial automation, robot platforms, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and tactile robotics research. Origin’s stationary design carries broader significance for human robot collaboration because it concentrates automation where many repetitive goods handling tasks already occur, at existing benches and stations. By emphasising a fixed base, visual sensing, and two arm operation, the platform represents a targeted route for smaller operations and warehouse teams to introduce robotics into defined processes. This approach can make automation more accessible while retaining people as nearby coworkers within the same workspace.
