Brit Cruise

I spent over a year experimenting with AI robotics in my basement. The goal was a robot controlled entirely by neural networks, with no pre-programmed motions. Instead of programming its behavior, I let the AI take control completely. Both at a high level (LLM/VLM’s controlling thoughts and fast neural network policies controlling locomotion). That became GrowBot, by far the most exciting engineering project I’ve ever done.

I posted a video about the experience, and it blew up way beyond my expectations, with over 5 million views.

Right after, over 10,000 people asked for a kit or a finished robot. I scrambled to meet the demand and started down the path of getting this exact robot manufactured. Then reality hit. Chip delays would take months, and parts were more expensive than ever.

Then it hit me. Old cell phones are everywhere, and they already have a better chip and better sensors than anything I was soldering together. They had everything we needed except the motors. So all I had to do was figure out how to get a phone to talk to motors wirelessly, and anyone could make a GrowBot for the lowest possible price. This led to what I think is the world’s lowest cost general AI robot design…

Now anyone can try GrowBot in one click using just a phone at growbot.dev/start. When you’re ready, you can build your own body or buy my kit of parts.

What’s most exciting is that GrowBot was designed to be body agnostic, so people have already put it in new bodies, including a lawnmower!

Stay tuned for more.

This entry was posted on October 7, 2026 at 11:09 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.