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)

I waited some time before writing a review, in order to thoroughly explore the capabilities of this robotic hexapod. I thoroughly enjoyed this project and it's certainly a 'talking piece'. Construction: The written instructions (a .pdf file) are considerably above average, especially in the software sections. Pay attention to the software. Once the machine is ready to start waving its arms, you will need to connect to a PC or laptop using remote desktop - this is well documented and works. For the physical construction there are invaluable youtube videos linked in the document, but you can also find user reviews which compliment the official videos. Overall, although daunting, I had no problems putting the hexapod together, checking out the individual features and then calibrating the legs. I would suggest you need to be over 10 years old to put this robot together, but adult supervision (or other help) would probably give you the best shot at success. In terms of parts: In my kit there were no missing parts or screws. I ordered the 18650 batteries online (I recommend the Sony/Murata batteries rated at 3Ahr.) Make sure you buy the FLAT top batteries (not the variety that has the (positive) button top. The robot draws a considerable amount of current and I'd caution against buying cheap batteries with outrageous claims in respect of amp-hours. Be aware that this robot, with 20 servo motors, can easily pull 15A so make sure to get well-regarded batteries if you want to avoid overheat damage. Coding tutorials are included and I had no problem getting every feature to work 'as advertised'. This is a well thought-out kit, probably better than any I've constructed before (which includes wheeled vehicles, robotic dogs, drones, 3D printers and assorted electronic kits). I've added or substituted several sensors, including Lidar, RTK GNSS, MEMS gyro and actual radar! Worked fine. The ultrasonic was usable and gives the robot 'character' but not my favorite ranger finder. Nothing in life is perfect so here are the minor issues: First, the robot is seriously heavy. I feel they could've used high-tensile strength plastic bolts/nuts to reduce weight, but otherwise the complexity and sheer number of servo motors guarantees serious weight. My robot, assembled with batteries, and using a Raspberry Pi 4, came in at 4lbs 9.5oz. The motors are capable and they do a good job articulating the robot, but the cost is battery run-time. During energetic motion, the run-time is less than 20 minutes (at least in my experience). So for this reason I recommend you buy several sets of batteries! Note, as stated the robot does not have a built-in charger for the batteries so you'll need a D-4 or similar charger that can take (at least) 4 batteries at a time. Second: given the battery life is short, it would've been nice if the robot had an easy way to shut off power to the servo motors while doing program development. There are two press-buttons used to power-on the robot and I suspect one of these powers the raspberry pi while the other powers the servo management board. However, they are not labeled as such, and I do not know if it is safe to operate the robot with just one power button pressed - I feel this could've been better documented. Third: This is a minor point but this robot has only limited practical usage - I'd consider it a great introduction to Pi and IoT programming; it's certainly a lot of fun, but aside from amusement and educational value, it's not got much of a walking range before it runs out of battery. You aren't going to chase the cat around the house unless it's very elderly or very patient. Fourth: I wish the robot had come with rubber booties for grip, but these are easily fabricated so not a show-stopper. Summary: This is a well thought out kit, not suitable for young kids, unless unusually gifted, and would benefit from adult supervision during construction and initial commissioning. Thereafter, it's easy to work with, especially if you are programming in python. Value for money is excellent - other than batteries and a rapsberry pi, everything is included.

This is one of the best things I’ve ever bought on Amazon. The parts are all quality. The tutorial is fairly easy to follow for an adult. Kids will struggle a lot but maybe an older teen that’s into robotics can handle it. All the source code is written in python which means you can completely reprogram everything yourself with a little experience. I added a speaker and mic to mine and well…you should check out the video to see it in action. I struggled with servo battery life at first until I programmed a relax after idle for a few minutes. I’m able to get about 45-180 minutes now based on how much crawling around he’s doing. If you want something fast then go for a wheeled robot. If you want something more complex and interested in inverse kinematics or potentially reinforcement learning then go with this hexapod. Note: The video I included is all custom programming and is not something you can do out of the box. That being said I have released my source code on GitHub and update it frequently.

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.

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.

Loved it, great platform to learn and experiment, good quality, and very fun for kids that like robotics and adults seeking to learn something new. Instructions are hard to follow and also be aware that it does not inclide the special LiPo batteries needed to make it work. Make sure to calibrate it before first use.

Overall very good quality, so being ignored by the product support is fine. I ended up replacing the battery compartment with a different brand, because the ones came with the kit don't hold the battery tight. Assembly is not very challenging, except plugging in the Servo cables. I had to do it several times, to make it record an acceptable initial positions. Calibrating the six legs is a painful process... The software is written in Python, which needs serious work to increase the response speed. I use Python for 10+ years, this kind of coding for this bot should get one fired. But I guess the point is to hack it, I might do it if I get a big chunk of time. I would not recommend it for nonprogrammers, or kids in general. It might be a good idea for enthusiastic makers who wants to hack the software.

This was an amazingly fun project to build. It's not simple and definitely not a toy for younger kids to try to build on their own unless they are exceptionally gifted makers. Middle teens and up with a serious interest in robotics will immensely enjoy it. There were some rocky moments during assembly. I think some of the steps could have been layed out smoother. Overall it was a challenging build that kept me engaged for hours. The final result worked exactly as expected. The software is advanced but can be understood with some effort. After that, it's great to add some features or see if you can optimize its capabilities. My kittens gave it mixed reviews initially. Now they play with it and I'm adding functions so it can play back autonomously. I'm wirelessly linked it to my own larger AI server system so it can "learn" from observing and "playing" with the kittens. It's done some unexpected things. For example, it learned how to chase a ball right along with the kittens. The kittens are far quicker and more agile but the hexapod tries. Overall 5 out of 5 stars

Contains a virus. Comes with no directions, one has to download them from thier sus website hosted who knows where and as soon as I extracted the file, all the virus warnings came up so had to delete (photo attached). Also only runs on batteries that are banned on Amazon and the only place they suggest is thier website... with slow shipping and no safety guarantees that come with amazon at all. It said it doesn't come with a battery but not that the battery required is banned... There has to be batteries that will work with this that doesn't have anything wierd going on however no interest in making it happen for some reason. Moreover its just laser cut acrylic and pieces are snapped. Unfortunate because was really looking forward to this product.

This was the first time I had ever purchased a kit like this and I wasn’t disappointed! What I liked: The instructions for building were clear and very well written. If they are followed to the letter the kit will work first time. When completed it’s a terrific kit. I do confess though for me I did manage to kill the servo control board after getting it to work. The only explanation I have is that it was probably an electrostatic discharge. In some ways I’m glad I did because it led me to get in contact with Freenove support. In the documentation they advise that they are there to help and indeed they do. The support and eventual diagnosis of my problem was second to none, they are awesome! Over a few days corresponding with their helpful and courteous staff, trying different options we sorted out my issue. I was able to purchase a replacement board for a very reasonable price. As yet I haven’t had time to swap the board but I have no doubt it will be fine. Just have to avoid the carpet.

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!

El producto llegó un día antes, al parecer todo, en buen estado, no lo he terminado de armar ni de probar, no sé si todo funciona, pero tiene muy buena calidad, en primera observación, hay que lo de armar y probar, es muy pronto para dar una opinión realista de este producto, pues lleva tiempo armarlo y realizar las configuraciónes de la raspberry pi, y subir los diferentes programas, y probar ya todo en su conjunto, pero al parecer tiene buena apariencia y espero que todo salga bien, Saludos

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!

New review Freenove really helped me after i have showed them that the box was damage and the board was faulty they were able to send me a new one to get me started. They are very amazing Old review When I got the box it was a bit smashed. After finishing the build of the Big Hexapod and following the document from what the website offer document FNK0052 It still didn't work i think the hexapod is broken The light doenst work ( adding the updaed part) Freenove really helped me after i have showed them that the box was damage and the board was faulty they were able to send me a new one to get me started. They are very amazing