Explosive AI hardware, sales exceeded 100,000 units. After dismantling it, it’s just an Android app.
Machine heart report
Machine zhixin editorial department
There are apk files, which can be installed on mobile phones.
"Rabbit R1, it is essentially a Launcher program on the Android system, which can be run on the mobile phone after being cracked. 」
Through cracking, Rahman managed to start and run R1′ s application on Pixel 6a mobile phone.
On Tuesday, American journalist Mishaal Rahman exposed the details of Rabbit R1, a well-known generative AI hardware, which immediately attracted the attention of the scientific and technological circles.
A few months ago, two startups, Humane and Rabbit, successively launched their artificial intelligence devices-AIPIN and Rabbit R1. Initially, some people thought that these devices would usher in a new era of wearable artificial intelligence. However, after several months, the controversy over these two devices has gradually increased.
Rabbit R1 made its debut at CES 2024. It is a palm-sized AI smart device and costs $199. Rabbit, the research and development company behind it, is committed to developing the next generation operating system based on Large Action Model, LAM).
R1 is a completely independent device, which is mainly driven by natural language. Small equipment is complete, including touch screen, buttons, scroll wheel, microphone, speaker, 360-degree panoramic camera, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi support, and USB-C+SIM card slot.
This orange cube looks as if it has magic. In terms of parameters, R1 is about half the size of iPhone and weighs 115g. It is equipped with a 2.88-inch touch screen, a 2.3GHz MediaTek processor, 4GB of memory and 128GB of storage space.
Then there is the software and operating system carried by the hardware. The operating system it carries is called Rabbit OS, and the connected cloud AI is called "big action model" instead of "big language model", which is described as a general controller for applications.
However, it obviously has all the characteristics of AI technology in the big model era. You can ask R1 a question. By pressing the dialogue button, you can get a response within 500 milliseconds, without any wake-up method, and the answer process has subtitles:
Like many new forms of scientific and technological hardware, Rabbit R1 has experienced hot discussion in the whole network, short supply and waves of discussions since the explosion of CES. Some people think that it has created a new category of intelligent hardware. "This is the iPhone moment in the AI era"; Some people think that what this hardware can do "can be solved by an app" and "why not use a mobile phone?" 」。 However, the controversy does not prevent R1 from selling well.
On April 24th, Rabbit R1 held a press conference. Within 24 hours, the R1 with a price of $199 sold 10,000 units. It was sold out again after replenishment, and more than 100,000 units have been sold so far.
Rabbit, a startup company, has also successfully caught up with the wave of generative AI. The accumulated financing has reached 58 million US dollars, and the latest round of financing was in March.
People are enthusiastic about new products. On the other hand, objectively speaking, all the functions provided by Rabbit R1 can be achieved by Android phones, even by a single Android application.
For example, we can get answers to questions through natural language dialogue with LLM, take pictures of objects to get information about them, play music from Spotify, take a taxi from Uber, and order food from Doordash …………………………………………………………………………………………………………. In many flagship phones of the latest generation, this kind of function is also a featured ability.
If all the things that an artificial intelligence gadget like Rabbit R1 can do can be realized through an app, then in fact, it is better to have more than one thing, and directly access AI with a mobile phone.
What’s more, Rabbit R1 seems to be running Android at the bottom, and the whole interface of user interaction is supported by a single Android application.
Mishaal Rahman said that people familiar with the matter shared Rabbit R1′ s starter APK with him. Mishaal Rahman successfully installed it on Android phone after some modifications, and the specific model is Pixel 6a.
Mishaal Rahman said, "After the installation, you can set up the Android phone just like Rabbit R1. The volume on the mobile phone is increased or decreased corresponding to the hardware button of Rabbit R1. Create a "『rabbithole』" account and you can start a conversation with the AI assistant. 」
Because the display screen of Rabbit R1 is significantly smaller and has lower resolution than Pixel 6a, the home screen interface only occupies a small part of the display screen of the mobile phone. Nevertheless, we can still ask questions to artificial intelligence assistants, just as we actually use Rabbit R1 hardware.
So to put it simply, although the operating system on R1 can be a customized Android system or even a customized Android ROM, it is actually just an app contained in an. apk file and can be installed elsewhere.
On Reddit, some people have said that they have also received the leaked code. Unfortunately, it may indeed be a good Android/iOS application.
Mishaal Rahman didn’t bother to test any other functions, such as Spotify integration, Vision, etc., but don’t be surprised if some of them don’t work. After all, Rabbit R1′ s launcher application is designed to be pre-installed in firmware and granted system-level permissions.
In any case, Mishaal Rahman believes that running applications on mobile phones shows: "Essentially, many niche hardware products are running on the basis of modified versions of AOSP. 」
Shortly after the news came out, Lv Cheng, founder and CEO of Rabbit Company, quickly responded to Mishaal Rahman:
Rabbit R1 is not an Android application. We know that there are some unofficial Rabbit operating system applications/website simulators. We understand that people are eager to experience our AI and LAM instead of waiting for their R1.
Having said that, in order to clear up any misunderstanding and clarify the facts, Rabbit OS and LAM run on the cloud with so-called AOSP and lower-level firmware modification, so local pirated APK without proper operating system and cloud point will not be able to access our service.
Rabbit OS is customized for R1, and we don’t support third-party clients. After today’s OTA, we implemented a number of cloud verification improvements to verify device/client requests. We reserve all rights to pursue any malicious and illegal network security activities against our services.
In short, the authorities denied it.
Some netizens said that R1 is worth buying even if it is really just an app model, because it eliminates the need to find an app on an already complicated mobile phone. As a generative AI hardware, Rabbit R1 is much cheaper than AI Pin, and it has rich functions.
Maybe it’s time to see the actual experience of tens of thousands of users.
Reference content:
https://www.androidauthority.com/rabbit-r1-is-an-android-app-3438805/
@MishaalRahman 把某个AI硬件拆解：本质上就是Android上面做了个特殊的Launcher 程序。并成功的在安卓手机上运行起该程序。
这种在深圳代工极度便宜的山寨板子做个硬件，并自称技术创新忽悠投资人和用户的做法什么时候是个头？
另外，即使生成式AI时代，最重要的随身硬件，依然是手机。预测至少十年 https://t.co/MEUq2S9Tqj pic.twitter.com/5UyNh01E6R
— Jeffery Kaneda 金田達也 (@JefferyTatsuya) May 1, 2024