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High-end robotic systems are still out of price range of most individuals, and even many research labs. Smartphones, however, with an astonishing array of computing power, sensors, and networking capabilities, are commonplace and becoming more powerful every day. To leverage these abilities, Intel researchers Matthias Müller and Vladlen Koltun have come up with OpenBot, which uses an Android smartphone as the brains, and otherwise costs about $50 to construct.
The OpenBot software stack consists of a custom Android app, along with code for an Arduino Nano that connects to the phone over USB serial. The mobile device takes care of higher level processing, while the Nano handles lower level tasks, such as motor control.
So far the OpenBot design has been able to follow a human and navigate autonomously. As experimentation, plus phone technology progresses, it could potentially do even more in the future!
