<img src="docs/media/1-TheRobotRave-Hackathon-SoTA-CoCa-2026-cover.jpeg" alt="The Robot Rave Hackathon" width="500"> <h1 align="center">Team YMCA - Making Robots Dance</h1> Winner of the Most Technical Award at The Robot Rave Hackathon 2026 <a href="#demo">Demo</a> • <a href="#features">Features</a> • <a href="#quick-start">Quick Start</a> • <a href="#the-team">Team</a> • <a href="#architecture">Architecture</a> <img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/Python-3.10+-blue.svg" alt="Python"> <img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/MuJoCo-3.0+-green.svg" alt="MuJoCo"> <img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/Robot-Unitree%20Go1-orange.svg" alt="Unitree Go1"> <img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/License-MIT-yellow.svg" alt="License">

The Story

On January 17th, 2026, at The Robot Rave hackathon in London, four engineers came together with one mission: make a robot dog dance to YMCA like Trump.

What started as a wild idea became a fully-featured robotics platform with real-time choreography, music synchronization, and sim-to-real transfer. We built everything from scratch in 12 hours - and won the Most Technical Competence Award.

"At Cocoa and SoTA we believe in the importance of culture for technoscientific progress... And what more human way to celebrate the culture of technological progress, optimism, and ambition than a dancing robot – the ultimate expression of the joy and hope we want to cultivate for the future."

Demo

<img src="docs/media/9-YMCA-realdog_Go1dog_dance.gif" alt="Real Go1 Robot Dancing" width="600"> The real Unitree Go1 performing our YMCA choreography <img src="docs/media/3-YMCA-charogrophy.gif" alt="Choreography Editor" width="600"> Building the dance in our custom choreography editor <img src="docs/media/2-YMCA-trump.gif" alt="Trump YMCA Dance Reference" width="400"> The inspiration: Trump's iconic YMCA dance

Features

Choreography Editor

A professional timeline editor for robot dance choreography - think Adobe Premiere, but for robot moves.

Waveform visualization synced to music
Drag & drop move markers on timeline
Zoom in/out for precise timing (1000%+ zoom)
Debug mode: flag timestamps while music plays
Save/Load choreography as JSON
Real-time playback with robot execution
Undo/Redo support

Control Dashboard

Complete control panel for the Unitree Go1 robot.

All robot modes (Stand, Walk, Dance, etc.)
Custom dance sequences (Wave, Nod, Shake, Bounce, Groove, Twist, Wiggle, Hip Shake)
Body pose controls (Look Up/Down, Lean, Twist, Squat, Extend)
LED color control
Sequence recording & playback
Real-time action logging with timing stats

Music Information Retrieval

Beat detection and music analysis for automatic choreography generation.

Beat detection using Librosa
YMCA song analysis (129 BPM)
Move timing suggestions based on beats
Visual beat representation

MuJoCo Simulation

Test choreographies in simulation before deploying to real hardware.

Full physics simulation with MuJoCo
Keyboard control for testing
Sim-to-real transfer
Same commands work in sim and on real robot

Quick Start

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/dawodx/YMCA.git
cd YMCA

# Run setup (creates venv + installs dependencies)
./setup.sh

# Activate environment
source .venv/bin/activate

# Run the tools:
python mo_simulation/go1_dashboard.py      # Control Dashboard (port 8890)
python mo_simulation/go1_choreographer.py  # Choreography Editor (port 8894)

# Run MuJoCo simulation
.venv/bin/mjpython mo_simulation/go1_sim_server.py

Connecting to Real Robot

# Network setup for Unitree Go1:
# 1. Connect Go1 via Ethernet
# 2. Set your IP to: 192.168.123.xxx
# 3. Go1 IP is: 192.168.123.161

# Then use the dashboard to connect and control
python mo_simulation/go1_dashboard.py

The Team

| | Name | Role | LinkedIn | |---|------|------|----------| | | Mo Dawod | Simulation & Control | linkedin.com/in/dawod | | | Alex Daniel | Music Analysis | linkedin.com/in/a-daniel | | | Pawit Kochakarn | Dance Choreography | linkedin.com/in/pawit-kochakarn | | | Andrew Walsh | Computer Vision | linkedin.com/in/andrewwalsh-tech |

Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                     CHOREOGRAPHY EDITOR                         │
│  Timeline • Waveform • Drag & Drop • Save/Load • Playback       │
└────────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────────┘
                             │
         ┌───────────────────┼───────────────────┐
         │                   │                   │
         ▼                   ▼                   ▼
┌─────────────────┐ ┌─────────────────┐ ┌─────────────────┐
│  MUSIC ANALYSIS │ │ CONTROL DASHBOARD│ │   SIMULATION    │
│                 │ │                  │ │                 │
│  • Beat detect  │ │  • Robot modes   │ │  • MuJoCo sim   │
│  • BPM analysis │ │  • Dance moves   │ │  • Keyboard     │
│  • Librosa      │ │  • LED control   │ │  • Sim server   │
└────────┬────────┘ └────────┬─────────┘ └────────┬────────┘
         │                   │                    │
         └───────────────────┼────────────────────┘
                             │
                             ▼
                  ┌─────────────────────┐
                  │    UNITREE GO1      │
                  │    Real Robot       │
                  │                     │
                  │  • go1pylib SDK     │
                  │  • MQTT commands    │
                  │  • Real-time pose   │
                  └─────────────────────┘

Project Structure

YMCA/
├── mo_simulation/           # Core simulation and control
│   ├── go1_choreographer.py # Timeline choreography editor
│   ├── go1_dashboard.py     # Robot control dashboard
│   ├── go1_sim_server.py    # MuJoCo simulation server
│   ├── go1_commands.py      # Shared command definitions
│   ├── go1_pose_builder.py  # Custom pose creator
│   ├── go1_param_editor.py  # Parameter tuning
│   └── choreography/        # Saved choreography files
├── alex_music/              # Music analysis
│   ├── beat_visualizer.py   # Beat visualization
│   ├── rhythm_parser.py     # Rhythm detection
│   └── song_parser.py       # Song analysis
├── pawit_control/           # Dance choreography
│   └── dance_mujoco.py      # MuJoCo dance integration
├── andrew_vision/           # Computer vision
│   └── README.md            # Vision pipeline docs
├── shared/                  # Shared utilities
│   └── config.py            # Configuration
├── models/                  # Robot models
│   └── unitree_go1/         # Go1 MJCF model
├── docs/media/              # Images and demos
├── setup.sh                 # Setup script
└── requirements.txt         # Dependencies

Tools Reference

| Tool | Port | Command | |------|------|---------| | Dashboard | 8890 | python mo_simulation/go1_dashboard.py | | Sim Server | 8891 | mjpython mo_simulation/go1_sim_server.py | | Pose Builder | 8892 | python mo_simulation/go1_pose_builder.py | | Param Editor | 8893 | python mo_simulation/go1_param_editor.py | | Choreographer | 8894 | python mo_simulation/go1_choreographer.py |

Controls (Keyboard Simulation)

| Key | Action | |-----|--------| | W/S | Body height up/down | | Arrow Keys | Lean forward/back/left/right | | A/D | Yaw left/right | | 1/2/3/4 | YMCA poses | | Space | Reset to stand | | Esc | Quit |

The Event

The Robot Rave was a hackathon-meets-performance organized by SoTA (Society for Technological Advancement) and Cocoa in London on January 17th, 2026.

Engineers, founders, and artists came together to make robots dance, culminating in a Robot Dance Competition at Maggie's, London's iconic 80s club.

Acknowledgments

SoTA & Cocoa for organizing an incredible hackathon
Unitree for the Go1 robot platform
MuJoCo for the physics simulation
The Village People for YMCA (and Trump for the dance moves)

<img src="docs/media/10-YMCA-party.gif" alt="Party Time" width="400"> Made with passion at The Robot Rave 2026 Let's make robots dance!

License

MIT License - see LICENSE for details.

YMCA

Install / Use

README