FREENOVEBig Hexapod Robot Kit for Raspberry Pi 5 4 B 3 B+ Zero 2 W, Walking, Self Balancing, Face Recognition, Ultrasonic Ranging, App Control, Camera, Servo (Raspberry Pi NOT Included)

So much to tell you about. This kit let me create the crawler robot I was looking for. It's a toy and it's a serious investigation tool all rolled into one.Freenove delivers a versatile and functional robot that has a wide range of motion, sonic ranging and live, real-time video. It took me about 5 hours to assemble never having assembled one before.The provide a digital tutorial guide with the best illustrations I've ever seen for a tutorial guide. There are a number of YouTube videos too that take you through the step by step process, just like the guide, assembling the robot.You may have to re-read parts and/or re-watch video segments - who cares. It's all there. Every bit of the assembly.In the video, the lady assembling it has a large work area. I've included photos showing my assembly work area. Very small by comparison. Yet, I did it with little trouble. I kept a small carton near my table and moved parts from the table to the carton and back as needed. If you have a large work area, you can leave everything there.You can see it assembled on my work table. My very small work table. With it's legs folded in it takes most of the space. I built it there, in that spot.Once I ordered the kit, I watched the assembly video and noticed the lady used an electric screwdriver (for small driver bits) and I thought, yes, an electric screwdriver could make this easier, so I ordered on for about $28. I show the box in one of the pictures. Get this or another that has at minimum a few small Phillips bits. You only need one bit.The other photo shows the electric screwdriver I bought for this build. Amazon sell these and many others. I'll write a separate review of it. The point is, an electric screwdriver will reduce your build time and save your wrist.What can this robot do?1. It has adjustable height.2. Moves in any direction.3. Has a movable "head" with the sonic sensors and camera.4. Measures distance from it to an object.5. Transmits real-time video.6. Has a buzzer for simple beeping sounds.7. Has an array of programmable color LEDs.It communicates over WIFI. You'll start in your home with your own Wifi network. Out in the wild, you can establish one with your laptop, tablet or phone.There's a nice app for Windows, Mac and Linux, as well as one for IOS and Android phones/tablets.This robot is an investigation tool for me. I'm thinking of a use of legged robot and this one fits the bill nicely. It's not going to stand up to tough use, however, to test out certain ideas I have, I expect it will work nicely.Since I built it, I should be able to service it too. Need a part, I have the list. Break something, I have the list. This is one of the benefits of building it yourself.Who is this for? An adult obviously. A older kid that can be responsible and not abuse it for another. Its inappropriate for a young child to build. To operate - maybe. I'll leave that up to you to image if the person you'll buy it for fits that description.Since the programming for it is all Python, changes to the code that comes with it is completely possible. Adding new apps is easy if you know Python. If you don't, they give you a little direction to get you started. There are many free tutorials on the web for Python.You don't need to know any code at all. Build it and use it as-is. Want to experiment, it's completely possible.Customer support? They make a big deal about it. Any question - write them. I didn't need them so I don't know. I suspect they mean it. There's something about the offer, the kit and quality of the parts that leads me to believe this.

I purchased this robot thinking it was cheaply made. NOT so at all. A lot of thought went into this robot. If you like heavy items that make you feel like you have something substantial, this is it.I needed a hexapod platform that was affordable and supported if I had any issues. Assembly was not that bad. If you have put together r/c cars or planes, you have the skills needed to assemble this robot.Leaning Python is the only area I would say you need to put some time into learning it. That said!...."It's a robot". You have to put it together to learn how they are assembled and when it comes time to repair it, you know what to do.After assembly I had an issue with the "control board". Some functions were not working. I contacted Tech Support and they walked me through some trouble shooting the mechanics and software but to no avail. They concluded that the control board was at fault. They sent me a new one that took about nine days to get to me from China. I installed the control board and the issue was gone.I also added the FREENOVE 5" touch screen. I mounted the screen to the top cover plate. This make it easier to see what's going on with the raspberry pi directly. Plus, it looks good.If you are looking for an hexapod platform, give this one a try. I don't think you will be disappointed with the hexapod or there customer tech support.

overall the build was easy and instructions on assembly (once downloaded) were good however the technical side with programming was fairly difficult and required some decent know how of the raspberry pi hardware and OS software to keep it from being too difficult to operate .i got the entire unit built and hooked up then after installing programs my computer just lost power and wouldnt power on anymore and im not saying the robot broke it but my raspberry pi4 worked up until that point lol..in any case maybe my computer was just at its end but the robot was fun to build and looked cool and the limited movement i got out of it was fun.

It's a great robot for the price. One of the nicest elements is the impressive number of servos it uses. This obviously goes hand in hand with additional power requirements. To the point where I do wish that there were a more user-friendly way of charging it other than manually removing the batteries, putting them in a charger, and then replacing them all over again. But the tradeoff between power, cost-effectiveness, and functionality is understandable. And the perks of having those extra servos are, again, really nice. The ability to actually move the "head" around is particularly useful.I was also surprised by the size. I know the word "big" is right there in the name. But it's about the size of a cat or terrier dog. The thing just looks and feels solid and impressive. I haven't had much chance to go through the code examples yet. But from glancing over them everything seems pretty straightforward. If you like Python and Linux you shouldn't have any complaints.I did have one small initial issue with the batteries I'd bought for it. For whatever reason they weren't putting out enough power for the robot despite the specs seeming to be compatible. But support was quick to reply to my questions. They pointed me to a recommended source and everything worked perfectly after trying it out again with a different brand of battery.

I bought this back in 2021 and just got it back out to play with it. I kept my original SD card so it was an easy turn on and play. The kit does take time and care to put together but it worth it. I run a Raspberry Pi 3B and use an iOS app to control it. I bought the recommended 18650 batteries that had 15A discharge current(Samsung).