Orientation

1Start on your phone

On the phone Growbot will ride on, open the browser you plan to keep using and go to Growbot.dev. Your Growbot lives in that browser's memory, so use the same browser whenever you come back.

The first time you wake him, he'll guide you through trying his senses and allowing the phone permissions they need. His first successful dream completes this introduction and offers the way into the full app.

These dreams are important. The more time you spend with him, and the more he dreams, the more he learns from his experiences and becomes himself. That continues when you give him a body. So start now!

2Growth and the soul file

Your Growbot's growing personality is stored in his soul file. Think of it as a seed that unfolds with experience. It has three parts:

Constitution: the starting rules, fixed at birth.
Identity: who he is becoming, shaped by his dreams.
Recent log: what he writes down as he thinks and experiences things.

Read his thoughts: Brain → My thoughts. To edit the soul, download the file, edit it on a computer, then bring it back in.

His working soul lives in this browser, and a browser can clear it. Every so often he'll ask you to save my soul: tap it and keep the file somewhere safe. You can save it any time too.

Download: Brain → Settings → soul → save the file.

Upload: Brain → Settings → soul → bring one in. Save a copy first. Bringing one in replaces him and clears his visual memories.

3Building Your Body

1. Here is your build guide. It will help you build your body and complete the initial pairing.
2. For everyday use, switch the body on, let its legs wiggle, then wait 20 seconds. Attach the phone so the batteries are at the bottom end and the phone's screen camera is at the top end, then set him on his feet.
3. Open growbot.dev in the paired phone's browser and tap ▶ wake up. He should stand soon after.

Not standing? Brain → Settings, tap Reconnect (or Pair). Still stuck? Robot off, wait 5 seconds, on, wait 20 seconds, reload.

The first thing he will do with his eye open is gently follow your face if he can see you. To stop it: Brain → Settings → follow my face.

4Tips for running Growbot with a body

Now the fun begins. What you do with Growbot is up to you, but he loves new experiences. Take him places, open his eye and turn his mic on. Ask him to remember something he sees and he'll form a visual memory.

To test his brain, invent a game together, or give him rules to try. He can do things that take careful thought, like “When you see a crow, sing it a song.” Or he can learn instant reactions, like “Beep when I tap you.”

His walks use neural networks running on the phone. You can also ask him to try any short leg gesture and save it by name. The only limit to what he does next is your imagination.

5New Wi-Fi

His body can remember up to 8 Wi-Fi networks. Somewhere new? Switch him on and wait about 90 seconds. If he can't join a saved network, open Brain → Settings → robot somewhere new? and follow the steps.

Use the same phone and browser that completed the build's pairing scan and saved the setup password.

6Tell me how it goes

Please email me how it goes at info@growbot.dev. I want to hear from you!