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)

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

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’m releasing my source code on GitHub soon.

The Big Hexapod Robot Kit by Freenove is a fantastic robot to have. The tutorial takes you through every aspect from setting up a Raspberry Pi to assembly and operating the hexapod robot. This thing is bigger than I imagined and is a bargain for the price. I would suggest just getting a Raspberry Pi 3B, which has WiFi built in. I installed a Raspberry Pi 4B 8GB version on it, but had an issue with it not connecting to the mobile app when it is turned on. I replaced it with a 3B version. Maybe a 4B with less memory might work but the 3B with a 16GB sd card is all you really need. Tech support is fast and friendly. Shaynee and Denzel are very committed to getting your issues resolved. I had to email them many times trying to get the 4B 8GB Pi to work, and they were always glad to help in any way they could.

I saw this robot on sale, and purchased it as a late Christmas present to myself. I had been wanting to build a robotic platform for a while, and the price for something that includes 20 servos was unbeatable. It took me a couple of days of intermittent work in the evenings to assemble it, and when I was testing it, the only issue I had was the user error of me mixing up two of the servo cables, causing erratic leg movement. It was very obvious during the calibration process what had happened, and easy to rectify. It is important to use VNC / Remote Desktop to run the code on the robot's Raspberry Pi when setting it up. I ignored the instructions and tried to run the installers and setup code from the command line (SSHed in to the Pi), and ran into issues that made it seem like the camera wasn't working properly. Oops, user error #2. After fixing that, I was happily surprised how quickly I had the robot buzzing around the house. Surprisingly, my cat wasn't afraid of it. I've not been able to register the cat's face with the facial recognition system yet, however, but I think that's due to the cat getting bored and wandering away before her face is registered :) I'm going to try to add onboard battery charging for the four 18650 cells in it, as it is a bit annoying to have to remove them, charge them, and then reinstall them. I have seen some folks install RC car or airplane packs, but I had a good number of 18650 cells on hand, so I used them. Overall, I feel this kit offers excellent value and a fun platform with lots of future potential. I'm glad I purchased it!

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.

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.

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 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).