Freenove Hexapod Robot Kit (Compatible with Arduino IDE), Walking Crawling Twisting, App Remote Control, Servo STEM Project

This is a nice kit and I highly recommend it. First the limitations. Hey! It's small. It's all plastic and small weak servos. They did a good job with the kit design and the assembled robot worked very well for me on smooth flat surfaces. This robot is not for walking on tile, inclines or anything that will stress the joints or servos because this won't take much nor carry much. However the kit looks impressive assembled and the directions are decent. Everyone who I show it to is impressed with the kit and the motion of the legs, the way it walks, shifts and dances. Scared my landlord though but she hates spiders and kept calling it a giant spider. She actually screamed when it powered on and the servos zipped the robot in a standing position. (Poor sweet woman!) I made a video of the calibration on a glass table top so it made a funky scraping noise with the plastic feet described as erry. Hey! Most people were so impressed and said they can't believe I made that. (Huh? What is that supposed to mean? Am I not smart enough?) Seriously though the directions are a little confusing at times and describe sections very well but assume you know (or leave it up to you to search for some of the arduino stuff.) Those 144 little screws that hold every joint together are not your friends! I recommend laying back in a chair with a baggy shirt and force those little self-threading annoying tiny screws in there. They are so small and impossible to find if dropped to the floor hence forth the baggy shirt to catch them when you will drop them. There are allot of small screws in the kit. Thankfully there are a few extras of each. The instructions weren't very good on the calibration but by the time you get to that point you pretty much know what needs to be done. Fortunately the design of the kit is very forgiving. The legs of my kit aren't completely at 90 degrees but I was able to the angles close enough in the "X" pattern. My robot walks fast and looks great when it is walking and moving around. No one notices it is not exactly 90 degree perfect but I know. ;-P Ok so I could unthread the screws and reline it up but after all it is plastic. I am happy with the way my hexapod went together and how it looks and acts. I plan on purchasing at least one or two more of these hexapod kits to possibly make a "how to" tutorial video to cover the places where the instructions could have given more detail, how to program it, control it with controller and android device, etc... What is great about the kit is they have everything you need to get started on git including all the calibration software environment. The next step is limited on your creativity and programming skills. I have some other concepts for the kit as well including fpv and inductive charging from a pad the hexapod can just go stand on to charge. I think this kit is very reasonably priced. It comes with 18 servos, an arduino with servo controller and all the pieces and everything cleanly cut. I recommend this kit for anyone ages 8 to 60 years in age however an 8 year old and a 60 year old will both say allot of nasty expletives trying to put in those 144 tiny screws. They are NOT your friend... HA!

I purchased the hexapod kit that includes the RC remote. The box includes everything you need to assemble and run the hexapod except for batteries and a charger for the lithium ion batteries. Be aware that you will need the batteries charged up and installed before you can complete the assembly, as the servos must be correctly positioned (using the supplied software while they are powered up) before being secured in place. Also, do not order the Nitecore NL1475SR batteries for this project; they do not have the necessary current capacity. I ordered the recommended Nitecore Nl14500A 650 mAh batteries direct from Nitecore and these work well. You should also purchase a charger that has protections against overcharging etc., made specifically for this type of battery.The kit comes with no software or instructions in the box; you must download these from the Freenove site.The kit went together with no hitches and I had no trouble installing the required software. The hexapod's processor is a Freenove design based on the Arduino Mega 2560 but incorporating the necessary electronics to drive the 18 servos (three for each leg). After installing the Freenove hexapod library in the Arduino IDE, you download a supplied sketch to the board via the supplied USB cable connected to your computer.For operating the hexapod from your computer, you download the Processing IDE to your computer, install the required library supplied by Freenove, and compile a supplied sketch that produces the user interface you use to control the robot. This app lets you choose between operating the hexapod via the USB connection or via WiFi. For WiFi the heapod acts as a WiFi "hot spot"; you connect to it via your computer as you would to your WiFi router, using the supplied default password.You can also operate the hexapod via the RC remote. The remote uses Freenove's version of the Arduino Uno R3, plus a shield that provides a joystick, switches, and a couple of potentiometers. After uploading the supplied sketch to the Uno, you are ready to go. The switches allow you to select different control modes for the joystick, and one of the potentiometers provides control over the height of the hexapod's body above the floor. I found control via the RC remote more fluid than via the Processing App as the former allows you to do things like move forward and turn at the same time, whereas the latter does not.I was impressed with the sophistication of the control algorithms --you can make the hexapod lean and twist in place as well as move and turn in any direction. Furthermore, all modes of control worked properly the first time I tried them (USB, WiFi, RC remote). I was not able to test the WiFi app with my cell phone (an iPhone) as Freenove only supplies an app for Android phones, but given the other successes, I would anticipate that it would work as advertised as well.All in all, it's a well-engineered kit that exceeded my expectations. However, I do have couple of recommendations to Freenove. First, it would be nice if they would develop an app for the iPhone. Second, although the tutorial for assembling the kit and installing the software is clear, the value of the kit as an educational tool would be greatly enhanced if it included a detailed tutorial describing how the software that operates the hexapod actually accomplishes what it does. As one with some experience in coding, I will eventually be able to figure it out by studying the supplied library, but it would be so much easier if there were an accompanying tutorial that takes the reader through it step by step.