Biped bot uses your old, dusty phone for brains
Biped bot uses your old, dusty phone for brains
UCLA researchers have developed PhoneBot, a small humanoid robot that uses a smartphone as its brain, eyes, and torso. The robot leverages a phone's camera, motion sensors, and processing power to enable walking, following people, and standing up. It runs on open-source hardware and software, making bipedal robotics more affordable for research and education.
Source: New Atlas — Robotics · Read original article ↗
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What the source reports
Publisher-reported claims, with original evidence. These results have not been independently verified by RoboSignal.
Reported numbers
phone models tested
4
View original evidence
ce down. Conversation isn't fully self-contained yet. Speech recognition and the language model run on a nearby laptop, which the phone reaches over Wi-Fi. Walking and vision run on the phone itself. The researchers tested PhoneBot on four Android phones: a 2017 Honor 9 and three prepaid models bought for about $50 to $80. All ran the core functions, including motion sensing, walking control, on-device vision, and in
Open source S7cost of PhoneBot
400
View original evidence
e laptop currently handling conversation. The hardware and software are open source and aimed at education, research, and tinkering. The paper presents PhoneBot as a platform others can build and experiment with, rather than a finished household companion. Or at least not just yet. The team estimates PhoneBot’s cost at roughly US$400, excluding the smartphone. Other small research humanoids listed in the paper range
Open source S10weight of PhoneBot
1.8
View original evidence
ns the neural network that drives the joints, and the touchscreen shows status and controls. The body stands 48.3 cm (19 in) tall and weighs 1.8 kg (4 lb), phone and battery included. It has 13 low-cost servo motors, six per leg, plus one that swivels the torso. That swivel lets the camera turn to follow a person without the whole robot pivoting. A smartphone supplies the camera, motion sensors and computing power fo
Open source S4height of PhoneBot
48.3
View original evidence
ns the neural network that drives the joints, and the touchscreen shows status and controls. The body stands 48.3 cm (19 in) tall and weighs 1.8 kg (4 lb), phone and battery included. It has 13 low-cost servo motors, six per leg, plus one that swivels the torso. That swivel lets the camera turn to follow a person without the whole robot pivoting. A smartphone supplies the camera, motion sensors and computing power fo
Open source S4number of servo motors
13
View original evidence
ns the neural network that drives the joints, and the touchscreen shows status and controls. The body stands 48.3 cm (19 in) tall and weighs 1.8 kg (4 lb), phone and battery included. It has 13 low-cost servo motors, six per leg, plus one that swivels the torso. That swivel lets the camera turn to follow a person without the whole robot pivoting. A smartphone supplies the camera, motion sensors and computing power fo
Open source S4number of torso swivel motors
1
View original evidence
ns the neural network that drives the joints, and the touchscreen shows status and controls. The body stands 48.3 cm (19 in) tall and weighs 1.8 kg (4 lb), phone and battery included. It has 13 low-cost servo motors, six per leg, plus one that swivels the torso. That swivel lets the camera turn to follow a person without the whole robot pivoting. A smartphone supplies the camera, motion sensors and computing power fo
Open source S4number of cameras
1
View original evidence
ns the neural network that drives the joints, and the touchscreen shows status and controls. The body stands 48.3 cm (19 in) tall and weighs 1.8 kg (4 lb), phone and battery included. It has 13 low-cost servo motors, six per leg, plus one that swivels the torso. That swivel lets the camera turn to follow a person without the whole robot pivoting. A smartphone supplies the camera, motion sensors and computing power fo
Open source S4
- paper: not_reported
- code: not_reported
- weights: not_reported
- dataset: not_reported
Source excerpts and review record
Automatically extracted; no manual editorial approval recorded.
ce down. Conversation isn't fully self-contained yet. Speech recognition and the language model run on a nearby laptop, which the phone reaches over Wi-Fi. Walking and vision run on the phone itself. The researchers tested PhoneBot on four Android phones: a 2017 Honor 9 and three prepaid models bought for about $50 to $80. All ran the core functions, including motion sensing, walking control, on-device vision, and in
Open source S7
e laptop currently handling conversation. The hardware and software are open source and aimed at education, research, and tinkering. The paper presents PhoneBot as a platform others can build and experiment with, rather than a finished household companion. Or at least not just yet. The team estimates PhoneBot’s cost at roughly US$400, excluding the smartphone. Other small research humanoids listed in the paper range
Open source S10
ns the neural network that drives the joints, and the touchscreen shows status and controls. The body stands 48.3 cm (19 in) tall and weighs 1.8 kg (4 lb), phone and battery included. It has 13 low-cost servo motors, six per leg, plus one that swivels the torso. That swivel lets the camera turn to follow a person without the whole robot pivoting. A smartphone supplies the camera, motion sensors and computing power fo
Open source S4
Source：New Atlas — Robotics · newatlas.com