Adeept RaspTank WiFi Wireless Smart Robot Car Kit for Raspberry Pi 4 3 Model B+/B, Tank Tracked Robotics with 4-DOF Robotic Arm, OpenCV Target Tracking, Video Transmission with PDF

All in all, a great little robot with some nice electronics. Entertained us for about a day and halfto build it.- Ignore the flimsy instruction sheet that comes, and download the pdf with the full instructions https://www.adeept.com/video/static1/itemsfile/Tutorial_12-11.pdf-Download the full raspian image (gui and all) as the lite one doesnt work (missing some packages)you can setup the wifi network using the file suggested on the instructions direct to the sd card to avoid keyboard/monitor being needed- On Windows use notepad++ to write the wifi file to sd, normal windows notepad puts line feeds in and while it looks ok in windows, the pi will not read itTheir script that downloads everything and sets it all up works perfectly if you use the full gui raspian imageattach the servo cables as instructed right at the start to get the pi working and allow it to set the servos to centre. Dont worry about the led light wiring until the diagrams later which show it explicitlywe snapped a servo collar piece when removing it from the laser cut sheet - dont worry there are 3 extra ones providedWhen assembling the final side pieces (large plates) turn robot on its side, to allow you to balance the nut in the opening to screw then on otherwise nut will drop out and inside the robot, otherwise you will need about 5 hands.-Right motor is motor 2, left is motor 1 - insert cables at the same time as you attach all the servos during final nightmare assembly. pass the servo cables through the top plate before connecting then to the board or you will have to undo them from the board.- Our camera had the ribbon at the bottom rather than the top, else image is upside down its plenty long enough to bend gently over the top of the camera bracket- Use the servo extender cable for the gripper servo or the wires are not long enough to assemble the robot fullycable management is a nightmare, especially care with the camera ribbon as its fragile, and tucking the servo cables down the sides of the pi to allow the top place to be placed in the right placeIf you find the motors drive really nice, but the servos are really slow and jerky, check one of them isnt jammed against the end of its travel - the servos will use all their strength to hold position regardless of whether the joints allow it, and will use all the servo power - shut off robot and check all servos can move by hand (you cant do this with the power on as they hold fast in place)Elbow and shoulder motors seem blended together as there is no separate elbow control buttons, this still works though but you cant manually direct the elbow motor. It cant really grip anything substantial, so forget having it bring you a beer.- Arm up/down seems to be the camera/ultrasonics on ours, 'hand up/down' is the shoulder and elbow- The collars that attach the driven wheels to the motors have their holes cut too large for the spindle on the motors, resulting in it being hard to centre then on the shafts, they could have made the hole smaller and only needed one grub screw, so the driven wheels look a little buckled when they turn - not a major issue.- Dont forget that the SD card is buried deep within the bowels of the robot, you wont be able to get it out after assembley!Software is actually quite advanced, there is scope here for hours of development and tweaking, on a great little fully featured platform.

WARNING! This is not plug and play!The robot comes in tens of pieces that need to be assembled.Electronic components, plastic components and software needs to work together.That is the issue, the software part of the build. In order for this robot to work you rely on third party software in order to connect remotely to the Raspberry pi. You connect via a protocol called SSH. I am a Compsci student so I like to tinker with hardware and software but the whole process of connecting to Raspberry Pi was really difficult.So long story short I haven't finished the assembly and software installation...I have better things to do.In conclusion: I wouldn't recommend this product.So you pay 80 something £ for this kit and on top of that you will need a Raspberry Pi which will add another 120£ at least, plus an additional set of 18650 batteries plus a charger for them, so another 50£. So you will end up spending close to 300£ for something that will frustrate you over the top because they have neglected the most important part of this product which is software.If they would provide a better, integrated solution for this, like a downloadable image of raspbian with all the settings enabled and with a Python program as the interface then, yeah, I would give it a go, but as it is now, No. A strong No.Have a nice day!

On the face of it this kit is great, it takes a while to put together but following the downloaded pdf, with a few common sense changes I got a working robot. That's where it ends.It's too small for what is packed in. The case is packed with wires, including a ribbon cable for the camera, so there's no ventilation, my Pi3 overheats. Also because of the cable, the front camera servo frequently gets snarled up and doesn't work. Very quickly two of the servos burnt out, not lifting anything other than the weight of the arm, but the connections for these is at the base of the robot, so to replace them, the whole robot has to be disassembled. That's when I gave up on the base kit, I'm remaking the main body 2cm wider to provide space and ventilation, and replacing the basic small servos with better ones. Also fitting servo extension cables so it doesn't have to be disassembled in future!The good side to this robot, is that the acrylic body is very well cut, the Adeept Robot controller card is excellent and the software well thought out, though the OpenCV instructions are quickly sabotaged by the advances in software.As a basic kit, it's not very good and needs an enthusiast to make it successfully, needs better servos and more internal space.