Rabbit R1 AI box revealed to just be an Android app

AnActOfCreation@programming.dev to Technology@lemmy.world – 854 points –
Rabbit R1 AI box revealed to just be an Android app
arstechnica.com
  • Rabbit R1 AI box is actually an Android app in a limited $200 box, running on AOSP without Google Play.
  • Rabbit Inc. is unhappy about details of its tech stack being public, threatening action against unauthorized emulators.
  • AOSP is a logical choice for mobile hardware as it provides essential functionalities without the need for Google Play.
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lol at calling running Android an "emulator".

Also don't they have to distribute the actual code for the OS if it's lightly altered Android?

My understanding is that if you only add modules on top, those can stay closed source. It's possible the AOSP portion of the stack is still stock and untouched.

I don't know, one of the reasons they're decrying everyone running the APK is they claim they've made a bunch of "bespoke alterations" to the AOSP version they're using

AOSP is fully Apache-2.0 licensed except for the Linux kernel, so only their kernel changes would have to be. It's also an important reason why Android was/is so successful.

Having seen what this device does, they may not even have had to alter anything to the base AOSP image. Just set your app as the launcher and you're good to go.

Depends on which part is altered. Lots of Linux distros are just curated collections of software, drivers, and configuration. You can easily achieve your OS goals without touching the code of the base distro at all. If they didn't need to modify the base code then there's nothing to distribute back. That would be like distributing your personal OS power user config settings. If you're not touching source there's nothing to contribute.