Edinburgh LeRobot Hackathon

Our hackathon was a huge success! Thank you to all participants.

📅 June 14-15, 2025
📍 University of Edinburgh
🏆 View Submissions 🖼️ View Gallery & Stories
📚 Workshop Materials | 💬 Local Slack | 💬 Global Discord

What is the LeRobot Hackathon?

Join the first-ever global LeRobot hackathon, happening simultaneously in 50+ cities worldwide! This is your chance to be part of the AI robotics revolution.

LeRobot is Hugging Face's new open-source robotics framework that makes training real-world robots as easy as training language models. With 13.9k GitHub stars and 100+ pretrained models, it's the most accessible robotics platform ever created.

Over 30 hours, you'll work in teams to build, train, and demonstrate creative robotic behaviors using state-of-the-art deep learning and reinforcement learning techniques. Whether you're a seasoned roboticist or completely new to the field, this hackathon is designed for everyone.

🤗 Explore LeRobot 📦 LeRobot GitHub Repository 🧠 Learn about SmolVLA 🤖 SO-ARM100 Robot Kits 🌍 Official Hackathon Page

Why Join Edinburgh's Node?

Edinburgh LeRobot Hackathon Visual
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4 LeRobot SO-101 Kits

Get hands-on with physical robots

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High-Performance GPUs

Train models on-site with:
• 1x NVIDIA RTX 3090
• 3x NVIDIA RTX 4090
• 1x NVIDIA RTX 5090

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Expert Mentorship

Learn from ML researchers Antreas Antoniou & Pavlos Andreadis

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Premium Venue

Work in UoE's state-of-the-art Informatics Forum

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Global Community

Connect with 1,500+ participants worldwide

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Win Recognition

Compete for global prizes and HuggingFace features

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Zero Cost

Completely free thanks to our sponsors

30 Hours of Innovation

Saturday, June 14, 2025

09:00 Registration & Welcome Coffee
09:30 Opening Ceremony (Global Livestream)
10:00 Workshop: LeRobot Hardware and Software Package
12:00 Workshop: Prompt Engineering LeRobot
13:00 Lunch Break
14:00 Workshop: Collecting a Lerobot dataset and fine tuning via imitation learning via supervised learning
15:00 Workshop: Fine tuning via reinforcement learning
16:00 Team Formation
17:00 Venue Closes (hacking continues off-site if desired)

Sunday, June 15, 2025

09:00 Venue Reopens & Breakfast
10:00 Official LeRobot Challenges Released & Hacking Begins!
12:00 Lunch Break
13:00 Final Push
15:30 Demo and Dataset Submission Deadline
16:00 Local Evaluations and International Voting
16:30 Team Presentations & Local Awards
17:00 Event Ends & Venue Closes

World-Class Facilities

The hackathon will be held at the University of Edinburgh's Informatics Forum. Access is restricted to our designated areas: rooms G.07 and G.03 for hacking, the atrium as a flexible space for team collaboration, and adjacent bathrooms.

📍 Address

Informatics Forum
10 Crichton Street
Edinburgh EH8 9AB
Scotland, UK

✅ High-speed WiFi throughout

✅ Abundant power outlets

✅ Comfortable working spaces

✅ Flexible space for collaboration

✅ Building access 09:00-17:00 daily

Learn from the Best

Meet your local Edinburgh hosts, organizers, and mentors for the LeRobot Hackathon:

Pavlos Andreadis

  • • Lecturer at University of Edinburgh (Aug 2024 - Present)
  • • PhD in Informatics, AI and Social Computation
  • • Teaches Machine Learning Practical, AI & Storytelling, System Design Project
  • • Multiple teaching award nominations (2021-2025)
  • • Venue coordinator and safety officer for the hackathon
  • • Email: Pavlos.Andreadis@ed.ac.uk

Antreas Antoniou

  • • Principal AI Research Scientist and Head of ML Research and Engineering in Pieces for Developers
  • • Former Research Associate at University of Edinburgh's BayesWatch group
  • • PhD in Meta Learning for Few-Shot Learning
  • • Expert in multi-modal learning and deep learning
  • • Providing all LeRobot kits and GPU infrastructure
  • • Email: iam@antreas.io
  • • Website: antreas.io

Garry Ellard

  • • Research Software Engineer, UoE
  • • Part of the dedicated technician team for the event
  • • Assisting with technical setup, hardware, and on-site support

Frequently Asked Questions

Who can participate?

Anyone interested in robotics and AI! We welcome students, researchers, industry professionals, and hobbyists. Basic Python knowledge is helpful but not required.

Do I need to bring a team?

No! You can register solo and we'll help you find teammates on the day, or come with a pre-formed team. We recommend teams of up to 5 people.

What should I bring?

Just your laptop and enthusiasm! We provide robots, and some GPU infrastructure. You are welcome to bring your own GPU/Apple M-series hardware or even your own LeRobot SO-101 kit if you have one. Bring a charger and any personal items for the hacking session.

Is food provided?

Participants should plan for their own meals and refreshments. There are many great food options and cafes nearby the Informatics Forum.

Can I stay overnight?

The venue closes at 17:00 on both Saturday and Sunday. Participants are welcome to continue working on their projects off-site.

What are the prizes?

Global winners get featured on Hugging Face, potential internship opportunities, and LeRobot swag. Local winners receive recognition and special prizes TBA.

Is this really free?

Yes! Thanks to Hugging Face and our organizers, there's no registration fee.

What's the submission format?

Teams submit: (1) a dataset recorded during the hackathon, and (2) a video (max 2 mins) explaining your project.

How many robots will we have access to?

We have 4 LeRobot SO-101 kits and 5 GPUs. Teams will coordinate to share resources throughout the event.