diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 2db8e968844d93cfc48af439b248382b12e9c24a..c533586a097aefe94adef9b4e9c688f4aad2c3ba 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -10,8 +10,6 @@ SET(PROJECT_NAME example-robot-data)
 SET(PROJECT_DESCRIPTION "Set of robot URDFs for benchmarking and developed examples.")
 SET(PROJECT_URL https://gepgitlab.laas.fr/${PROJECT_NAMESPACE}/${PROJECT_NAME})
 
-STRING(REGEX REPLACE "-" "_" PY_NAME ${PROJECT_NAME})
-
 # Print initial message
 MESSAGE("${PROJECT_DESCRIPTION}, version ${PROJECT_VERSION}")
 MESSAGE("Copyright (C) 2018-2019 CNRS-LAAS")
@@ -28,16 +26,19 @@ ENDIF()
 
 SETUP_PROJECT()
 
-ADD_REQUIRED_DEPENDENCY("pinocchio >= 2.1.0")
+OPTION (BUILD_PYTHON_INTERFACE "Build the python unit tests and helpers" ON)
 
-FINDPYTHON()
+IF(BUILD_PYTHON_INTERFACE)
+    ADD_REQUIRED_DEPENDENCY("pinocchio >= 2.1.0")
+    FINDPYTHON()
+    STRING(REGEX REPLACE "-" "_" PY_NAME ${PROJECT_NAME})
+    ADD_SUBDIRECTORY(${PY_NAME})
+    ADD_SUBDIRECTORY(unittest)
+ENDIF(BUILD_PYTHON_INTERFACE)
 
 INSTALL(DIRECTORY hyq_description DESTINATION share/${PROJECT_NAME})
 INSTALL(DIRECTORY icub_description DESTINATION share/${PROJECT_NAME})
 INSTALL(DIRECTORY talos_data DESTINATION share/${PROJECT_NAME})
 INSTALL(DIRECTORY tiago_description DESTINATION share/${PROJECT_NAME})
 
-ADD_SUBDIRECTORY(${PY_NAME})
-ADD_SUBDIRECTORY(unittest)
-
 SETUP_PROJECT_FINALIZE()