Freenove Big 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)

OMG – great kit, great price, cool robot
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.

A really good kit to get started with hexapods and robotics
A very good kit for people interested in robotics. The materials are complete, in fact, there are a lot of extras and spare parts. The resources online helps in building the entire kit. As a beginner, it took a few days to finish but overall it doesn’t disappoint. However, it does help if you have a technical understanding and even a programming background. This is well suited in cases where you want a hexapod that you can also program yourself.

Everything worked perfect following the instructions, I am on Ubuntu 20.04 and bought the Raspberry Pi 4B. The support team of Freenove is simply amazing, very helpful and quick replies!

OK so I know it is clearly stated, but be aware, you need to supply batteries, charger and Raspberry Pi.I used a Raspberry Pi 3.This is my 3rd Freenove kit. I have been impressed by the quality of their kits and their outstanding customer support and the big hexapod is no exception.I believe problems can happen with any purchase; it is how they are dealt with that is the measure of a company. My kit had one mis-cut piece. I contacted Freenove support and they had a replacement in the post the next day, they also offered me an STL file to build my own if I had access to a 3d printer. I consider that to be 5 star support.The kit included 2 screw drivers and a spanner, which between them were suitable for all the nuts and bolts. Freenove do supply a few spares of each nut and bolt, but the servos do not include spares, so be careful with the screws for securing the servo arms!I found a very helpful set of build videos on you tube (search for ‘Blade Dreams’). If you do follow the video, a couple of points to note:Blade Dreams had an issue with the orientation of the ultrasonic connection wire – the tutorial is now updated so just follow that.Blade Dreams also inserted rubber bushes in his servo mounts – I don’t believe this is necessary.The Freenove tutorial is clear and easy to follow, except, perhaps, when connecting and orientating the servos. The golden ruler is never connect or disconnect anything when the Pi is powered up, always shut it down and power it off first. So first connect the servos, then turn on and run the server program.Everything else went smoothly and was a lot of fun.It sailed through the set up tests, I calibrated the leg positions using the supplied calibration sheet and now it’s good to go.One aspect of Freenove products that I particularly like is the open source code. Having had fun creating new movements and actions with my Freenove dog kit, I am now looking forward to exploring and tinkering with the Hexapod code. I have found with previous kits that any questions I have about both the kit and the code are always promptly and helpfully answered by the support team.I think the coding side is a big plus, but, having built the kit, it is good to go with the supplied PC software or via a phone app so software tinkering is purely optional.Compared with my previous kits, the Hexapod is big! It also feels very sturdy. I am very pleased with my purchase and I’m looking forward to further exploring its potential.I would recommend the Freenove Robot User group on Facebook facebook.com/groups/333208747878884 which is a recently formed group for Freenove robot owners with the intention of sharing tips, mods and code.I shot the video immediately after calibration, I’m not very good at filming and controlling the robot (via android app) at the same time which is why things get a bit jerky particularly when I move the head!