MyZubster: Building an Open-Source Robot That Can Accept Monero Payments

What if a robot could provide a service, receive a payment, verify it automatically, and continue working without human intervention?

This is one of the ideas we're exploring with the MyZubster Robot: combining robotics, AI automation, and Monero into a single open-source ecosystem.

The goal isn't simply to attach a cryptocurrency wallet to a robot. It's to design an architecture where autonomous systems can securely interact with users and digital services while respecting privacy and remaining completely transparent.

The Problem

Most robots today are designed to execute tasks, but very few are built to participate in an autonomous service economy.

Imagine a robot that:

• waters plants in a community garden;
• monitors environmental conditions;
• performs inspections;
• delivers information;
• provides on-demand services.

How should that robot receive payment?

Traditional payment systems often require centralized services, third-party accounts, or personal information. We wanted to explore a different approach.

Why Monero?

Monero naturally aligns with one of the main principles behind MyZubster: privacy by design.

Rather than exposing transaction histories or requiring centralized payment providers, Monero allows applications to build payment workflows where financial privacy is preserved. Its wallet RPC also makes it possible to integrate payment handling directly into backend services.

Our objective isn't to build "a crypto robot." It's to investigate how privacy-preserving digital payments can become one component of an autonomous system.

A Modular Architecture

Instead of embedding everything inside the robot itself, we separated responsibilities across different components.

The architecture consists of:

• the robot, responsible for interacting with the physical world;
• an AI layer for decision-making and automation;
• a backend Gateway that manages payment workflows;
• Monero Wallet RPC for payment processing;
• APIs connecting all services together.

This modular approach allows each component to evolve independently while keeping the overall system easier to maintain.

How the Payment Flow Works

A typical interaction looks like this:

1. A user requests a service.
2. The backend generates a payment request.
3. The user sends Monero.
4. The Gateway monitors the payment.
5. Once the transaction reaches the required confirmation threshold, the backend updates the service status.
6. The robot receives authorization to continue its task.

The robot itself doesn't make financial decisions—it simply reacts to verified events generated by the backend.

Why Automation Matters

Automation reduces friction.

Instead of requiring someone to manually verify every payment, the system can:

• detect incoming transactions;
• validate confirmations;
• update service status;
• notify connected applications;
• trigger the robot's next action.

This event-driven workflow makes the platform more scalable and easier to integrate with additional services.

Open Source from Day One

One of the goals of MyZubster is to build everything in the open.

By documenting architectural decisions and sharing progress publicly, we hope other developers can learn from our experiments, contribute improvements, or adapt parts of the system to their own projects.

Open source isn't just about publishing code—it's about building together.

Looking Ahead

The current implementation is only the beginning.

Future work includes:

• tighter integration between robotics and AI;
• improved payment monitoring;
• multisig escrow support for marketplace services;
• richer APIs for autonomous devices;
• additional hardware integrations;
• stronger developer documentation.

Each milestone brings us closer to a platform where robotics, AI, and privacy-focused payments work together seamlessly.

Final Thoughts

The MyZubster Robot is an experiment in combining several technologies that are often developed separately.

By bringing together robotics, AI automation, a modular backend, and Monero-powered payments, we're exploring what autonomous, privacy-respecting digital services could look like in practice.

There's still plenty to build, but that's what makes open-source development exciting: every new component is another opportunity to learn, improve, and collaborate.