UCLA's PhoneBot turns an old Android phone into a small humanoid robot

Key points

• Four Android phones handle sensing, vision, and movement control for the robot, which uses 13 motors.
• Estimated added hardware cost is $400, not counting the phones, which are sold separately.
• The robot has no arms, was trained only on flat ground, and needs a separate laptop for speech and language.
• Researchers fixed an uneven gait by adding mirrored training examples that swapped left and right.

Why it matters for marketers: Low-cost humanoid robotics is reaching students and small labs, which could lead to more robotics demos and educational content from smaller builders.