OpenBot: Turning Smartphones into Robots (2022)
Channel: OpenBot
Date: 2022-06-01

OpenBot is an open-source project that makes embodied AI accessible and scalable. One of the key ingredients to democratize robotics education and research is to leverage smartphones as brains of affordable and dispensable robot platforms. OpenBot comes in many shapes and forms. Essentially any combination of a recent Android smartphone and a robot body. The embodiments include ready-to-run robots for indoor and outdoor navigation, RC trucks, various 3D-printed robots that rely on off-the-shelf components, and any other robot that a creative mind can dream of and build. The OpenBot framework has many features. For example, there are several modes of teleoperation, some with a low-latency live video feed. OpenBot also supports advanced AI features such object following and autonomous navigation conditioned on either high-level commands or a goal vector.  This enables many applications for recreation, education and research. Most importantly, tools for data collection and policy learning are provided for different levels of expertise so that anyone can train their own AI navigation policies. This makes the AI magic transparent and offers a unique look inside the inner workings of modern autonomous systems. OpenBot makes it easy, fun and cost-effective to learn robotics and AI.

Get started at: https://www.openbot.org
Buy a ready-to-run OpenBot: https://buy.openbot.org/rtr
Join the community: https://community.openbot.org/slack
Download the app: https://app.openbot.org/robot