UCLA PhoneBot humanoid robot development

Researchers at the UCLA Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory have developed PhoneBot, an open-source humanoid robot platform designed to repurpose old Android smartphones as its central processing and sensing unit. By utilizing a smartphone’s existing camera, processor, gyroscope, and accelerometer, the project aims to lower the costs of robotics research and education.

The prototype stands approximately 48 centimeters tall, weighs 1.8 kilograms, and features 13 motorized joints. The smartphone is mounted on the torso, enabling the robot to track people visually without rotating its entire body. Demonstrations have shown the robot can walk on two legs, recognize individuals, and autonomously right itself after falling face down.

Testing indicates that devices as old as those from 2017 can effectively serve as the robot’s brain, with additional hardware costs estimated at approximately $400. The research, which details how PhoneBot was trained using reinforcement learning in a digital simulation environment, was presented in a preprint on arXiv in October 2026.