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Using an old Redmi 9 as the "brain" of a Thymio II: an on-device vision, voice, and obstacle-avoidance learning loop

A weekend PoC mounts an old Redmi 9 on a Thymio II using Lego, with the phone running ML Kit face detection (including smile probability) and image annotation, rough lighting/motion estimation, animated expressions, and voice output, while the robot only executes wheel-speed targets and sends back sensor data. Behavior is a small state machine: cruise → back up → turn → observe → stop steadily; when a face is detected it enters a "meet" state and can answer "what do you see." Obstacle-avoidance learning is simple: after a collision it tries turning for 1.2s, 2.4s, or 3.8s, scored by the free-driving time before the next contact.

Part of the event: Weekend PoC: Old Redmi 9 Serves as the Brain of a Thymio II

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