UCLA unveils PhoneBot humanoid powered by unused smartphone hardware
UCLA just introduced PhoneBot, a budget-friendly humanoid robot powered by your unused smartphone.
Instead of fancy hardware, it uses your phone's camera, processor, touchscreen, and IMU to walk, sense motion, and interact, with speech recognition and language-model functions running on a nearby laptop, all while communicating with a small onboard computer over Wi-Fi.
At 48.3cm tall and weighing 1.8kg, it's a smart pick for anyone curious about robotics but not looking to spend a fortune.
Open-source PhoneBot for students and hobbyists
PhoneBot moves using 13 servo motors and connects to your phone over Wi-Fi, so swapping phones is super easy.
Tests with different Android models showed reliable walking and sensing, though some camera features depend on the phone's software.
The project is open-source (about $400 if you already have a phone) and aimed at students or hobbyists.
Upgrades like arms or better language skills could be coming, making this little bot even more versatile for learning or tinkering.