Maker's Pet Loki 200 mm LiDAR Home Robot

Loki is a small round home robot you print yourself. It drives on two brushless gearmotors, maps your rooms with a spinning 360-degree LiDAR and uses a phone in its head as a face. An ESP32 runs the Kaia.ai micro-ROS firmware and talks to ROS 2 on your PC for mapping and self-driving. The base is 200 mm across, so every part fits a common 220 x 220 mm print bed.

Updated for modern use: one purchase list for the whole robot, a print list with counts and one build guide in build order.

What you build

• Three stacked round plates: motor and caster deck, electronics and battery deck, LiDAR deck
• Two GM25 2418 24 V brushless gearmotors with built-in drivers, 65 mm wheels and a printed caster
• A 3 x 9 V battery pack (about 27 V) with an XT30 plug
• An ESP32 DevKit on the Maker's Pet main board
• A 360-degree LiDAR on top, front and back bumpers, and a head with a phone clamp

Files

• All 20 print-ready STL files, including mounting plates for seven LiDAR models
• Build guide PDF: print list, parts, assembly order, firmware and software setup and first power-up checks
• Bill of Material PDF with quantities, notes and a shop link for every part

Print settings

PETG (preferred) or PLA, about 0.5 kg in total. 0.2 mm layers, 3 perimeters, 15-20% infill. Print the motor bracket twice and only the LiDAR plate for your sensor (YDLIDAR X4, X3 PRO, X2, X2L, RPLIDAR A1, Neato XV11 or LDS02RR). Snap the pedestal off the caster wheel after printing.

Electronics

• ESP32 DevKit (ESP-WROOM-32, 30-pin) on the Maker's Pet main board
• YDLIDAR X4 or one of the other supported LiDARs
• 2 GM25-BLDC2418 24 V brushless gearmotors: 260 rpm by default, 200 rpm for carpet, 408 or 450 rpm for speed
• Three 9 V batteries in series, snap leads and an XT30 plug; about three hours of driving per set

Bill of Material

Every part you need to buy, with quantities, notes and shop links, is in the Bill of Material PDF in the files of this model. The Maker's Pet ESP32 main board (motor, LiDAR and battery connectors, 5 V regulator, power switch) is bought directly from Maker's Pet at makerspet.com. You need one; it is not in the shop list.

Software

Flash the Kaia.ai firmware to the ESP32 from the Arduino IDE, set the robot, motor and LiDAR model, and connect the robot to your Wi-Fi. Then run the Kaia.ai ROS 2 Docker image on your PC: drive by teleop first, then try mapping and navigation.

Skill level

Intermediate. You wire three battery snaps in series, crimp or solder an XT30 plug, flash an ESP32 and run a Docker image on a PC. No custom circuit board to solder.

Full build guide and source

The build guide, source and all project files: https://github.com/ToolKnox/hawkridge-makerspet-loki-lidar-pet-robot (Code > Download ZIP).

Safety

Never look into the LiDAR laser and keep children and pets from doing so; mirrors and glossy surfaces can reflect the beam. Disconnect the battery before changing wiring and do not short the 27 V battery pack. Test the motors with the wheels off the ground first.