Control the Hiwonder TonyPi with Plain English: Introducing bruhOS

The Hiwonder TonyPi is a popular open-source humanoid robot powered by Raspberry Pi. A community developer has created an open-source project called bruhOS that makes it easier to control the TonyPi using plain English commands.

bruhOS is an independent open-source robot operating system created by @baogerbao. It is designed for the Hiwonder TonyPi and allows the robot to understand natural language instructions and turn them into safe, predefined actions.

For example, you can say:

• "Put the red one in the box"
• "Walk forward and wave"
• "Pick up the object and place it on the table"

The system then breaks these commands into a sequence of verified skills such as detect, walk, grab, and release.

• Plain English control: No need to write complex code for basic tasks
• Safety-first design: The AI can only use a fixed list of approved skills
• Fall recovery: The robot can detect falls and stand back up
• Simulator included: Test commands without using the physical robot
• Flexible AI options: Works with offline models, OpenAI-compatible APIs, or local small models
• Mobile app support: Control and monitor the robot remotely

bruhOS was built by the community specifically for the Hiwonder TonyPi and its Raspberry Pi 5 setup. It includes configuration files that match the TonyPi’s action groups, making it easier for developers and educators to experiment.

• Educators teaching robotics and AI
• Hobbyists who want easier control of TonyPi
• Developers exploring embodied AI and language-based robot control
• Students learning humanoid robot programming

• Prepare a Hiwonder TonyPi with Raspberry Pi 5
• Visit the official bruhOS project page on Hackster
• Follow the installation instructions
• Use the included simulator to test commands first