Automagerie is a deliberate coinage derived from:

• “Auto- / Automaton” → emphasizes self-operating machines and robotic agents.
• “Menagerie” → emphasizes a collection or repository of diverse, often exotic, creatures.

It is a repository of robot models and reference motion generator based on Placo.

The reference motions are used in three RL works:

• Open Duck Playground
• AWD

Gallery

• Getting Started
  • Installation
  • Generate motions
  • Overview
  • Usage
    • Via git clone
• Automagerie Models
• Citing Automagerie
• Acknowledgments
• Changelog
• License and Disclaimer

Getting Started

Installation

Install uv

curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

Generate motions

uv run scripts/auto_waddle.py (-j?) --duck ["go_bdx", "mini_v2", ...] (--num <> / --sweep) --output_dir <>

Args :

• -j? number of jobs. If j is not specified, will run sequentially. If j is specified without a number, your computer will crash :) (runs with all available cores). Use j4 for example
• --duck selects the duck type
• --sweep generates all combinations of motion within the ranges specified in robots/<robot>/auto_gait.json
• --num generates random motions
• --output_dir self explanatory

Replay

uv run scripts/replay_motion.py -f recordings/<file>.json

Playground

uv run motion_generator/gait_playground.py --duck ["go_bdx", "mini_v2", ...]

Overview

The structure of Automagerie models is illustrated below. For brevity, we have only included one model directory since all others follow the exact same pattern.

├── go_bdx
│   ├── assets
│   │   ├── base_0.stl
│   │   └── ...
│   ├── auto_gait.json
│   ├── go_bdx.urdf
│   ├── go_bdx.png
│   ├── go_bdx.xml
│   ├── placo_defaults.xml
│   ├── placo_presets
│   │   ├── slow.json
│   │   ├── medium.json
│   │   └── fast.json
│   ├── LICENSE
│   ├── README.md
│   └── scene.xml

• assets: stores the 3D meshes (.stl or .obj) of the model used for visual and collision purposes
• LICENSE: describes the copyright and licensing terms of the model
• README.md: contains detailed steps describing how the model's MJCF XML file was generated
• <model>.urdf: contains the URDF definition of the model
• <model>.xml: contains the MJCF definition of the model
• scene.xml: includes <model>.xml with a plane, a light source and potentially other objects
• <model>.png: a PNG image of scene.xml

Note that <model>.xml solely describes the model, i.e., no other entity is defined in the kinematic tree.

Usage

Via git clone

You can also directly clone this repository in the directory of your choice:

git clone https://github.com/openbiped/Automagerie.git

You can then interactively explore the model using the Python viewer:

python -m mujoco.viewer --mjcf robots/mini_v2/scene.xml

Automagerie Models

Ducks.

Name	DoFs	License	MJX
bdx_r	10	MIT	✔️
brom_bdx	10	Apache-2.0	✔️
brom2_bdx	10	Apache-2.0	✔️
go_bdx	14	Apache-2.0	✔️
mini_v2	14	Apache-2.0	✔️
q1mini	10	MIT	✔️
uki_bdx	14	Apache-2.0	✔️

Humanoids.

Name	DoFs	License	MJX
sigmaban	20	Apache-2.0	✔️

Citing Automagerie

If you use Automagerie in your work, please use the following citation:

@software{automageriegithub2025,
  author = {Antoine Pirrone, Grégoire Passault, Mimir Reynisson, Mankaran Singh and {Open Duck Contributors}},
  title = {{Automagerie: A collection of simulation models for Open Duck and motion generation}},
  url = {http://github.com/openbiped/Automagerie},
  year = {2025},
}

Acknowledgments

The models in this repository build on the work of many talented third-party designers; Open Duck Automagerie exists thanks to their generous open-source contributions. We gratefully acknowledge every designer and engineer who made it possible.

The structure of this repository is also based on the hard work of Kevin Zakka, with help from the Robotics Simulation team at Google DeepMind.

Thanks are due to contributors from across the community—find them all in CONTRIBUTORS.md for a full list.

Changelog

For a summary of key updates across the repository, see the global CHANGELOG.md.

Each individual model also includes its own CHANGELOG.md file with model-specific updates, linked directly from the corresponding README.

License and Disclaimer

XML and asset files in each individual model directory of this repository are subject to different license terms. Please consult the LICENSE files under each specific model subdirectory for the relevant license and copyright information.

All other content is Copyright 2025 Mimir Reynisson and licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0. A copy of this license is provided in the top-level LICENSE file in this repository. You can also obtain it from https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0.