When startups like Humane and Rabbit first launched their AI-based digital devices a few months ago, early proponents were hoping that these AI companions would usher in a new era of wearable AI. Unfortunately, both products are semi-finished products, and technical critics can only harshly criticize them.
In the case of the Rabbit R1, in the hands-on experience, we noticed that the widget allows you to do things like talk to large language models (LLMs) to get answers to questions, take pictures of objects to get relevant information, play music from Spotify, hail a ride from Uber, or order food from Doordash, but that's basically it. If everything an AI gadget like the Rabbit R1 can do can be replicated with an Android app, then why don't these companies simply release an app instead of releasing a piece of hardware that costs hundreds of dollars, requires a separate mobile data plan to use, and has poor battery life......
It turns out that the Rabbit R1 appears to be running an Android system behind it, and the entire interface that users interact with is powered by a single Android app. One of the tipsters shared with us the launcher APK for Rabbit R1, and after some debugging, we were able to install it on our Android phones, specifically the Pixel 6a.
Once the installation is complete, we will be able to set up our Android phone as Rabbit R1. The volume plus key on the phone corresponds to the hardware key of the Rabbit R1, so that we can go through the setup wizard, create a "rabbit hole" account, and start talking to the AI assistant. Since the Rabbit R1 has a much smaller display and a much lower resolution than the Pixel 6a, the home screen interface will only take up a small portion of the phone's display. Still, we were able to ask the AI assistant questions, just like we would with real Rabbit R1 hardware, as you can see in the video embedded below.
We haven't tested other features like Spotify integration, Vision, etc., but we wouldn't be surprised if some of them don't work, the launcher app of the Rabbit R1 is pre-installed in the firmware and is granted a number of system-level permissions, and we can only grant some of them, so if we try, some features will most likely fail. Still, the fact that the app works on my phone is hilarious, and it proves the fact that a lot of niche hardware products run on modified versions of AOSP at their core.