FrodoBots

Submission 1,478

Part of a series on AI / Artificial Intelligence. [View Related Entries]

About

FrodoBots is an open-world IRL game that lets you remotely drive real-life robots around various cities across the world. The game was released in February 2022 but was popularized online around mid-2023, with gameplay and clips of various streamers playing it going viral on X (Twitter), TikTok and Instagram.

History

On February 21st, 2022, the official website of the open-world game with real-life robots, called FrodoBots,^[1] was released online. On March 17th, the first "test" of the game's concept was posted on the company's YouTube^[2] channel in a video titled "A fun drive around Solana Hackathon in Singapore," which amassed only 178 views and three likes in a year.

The first viral video showcasing the game's potential was uploaded on TikTok^[3] on March 1st, 2023, which describes how a man in the Philippines remotely controlled a device on wheels to order a drink from a HeyTea in Singapore (seen below). The post garnered over 1.2 million plays and 74,600 likes in seven months.

@frodobots I thought this was going to be a smooth ride, but boy was I wrong! #robot #delivery #singapore #philippines #virtualdrive #crypto #gaming ♬ Mario like action game 2 – Jun Takahashi

Features

FrodoBots open-world game allows people from all over the world to control a real-life robot located in China, Singapore, Germany and London, with additional cities and countries continuously being added. The small robots partake in mini-games like racing, buying objects or food from grocery stores and also giving specific items to people in the streets of the city in which the robots are passing by.

On August 24th, 2023, the company posted a video on YouTube^[4] showing two gamers trying to buy a milk tea (shown below), which garnered over 8,000 views and 340 likes in one month.

Online Reactions

Online, clips of the mini-robots aventuring through cities all over the globe have been going viral on platforms like X and TikTok. For instance, on June 15th, 2023, TikToker^[5] @frodobots_in_us posted a video of a FrodoBot in the United States (shown below, left), which amassed roughly 12,000 plays and 280 likes in four months.

On July 5th, @frodobots^[6] posted another video showing a man trying to "get a friend's pants fixed" while the robot was using Google Translate (shown below, right). The post amassed over 40,000 plays and 1,200 likes in three months.

@frodobots_in_us Messing around with this 4G remote control sidewalk robot #remotecontrol #robotics #openworldgame #irl ♬ Funny Background – Stefani

@frodobots Drove my robot to a tailor to get my friend's pants👖 fixed but language barrier stood in the way. Used Google Translate to speak Chinese, but did I say it right?🤔😅 #robots #virtualdrive #rc ♬ original sound – FrodoBots