Waveshare Wave Rover Flexible and Expandable 4WD Mobile Robot Chassis, Full Metal Body, Multiple Hosts Support, with Onboard ESP32 Module

This is an amazing little mobile robot platform for such a low price. It's definitely my go to from now on until someone improves on it. I wish it had more I/O and wish the default software was a little more extendable. Micropython OOTB would have made this perfect but perfection is always too much to ask and this falls short only barely.

I have bought several Waveshare robots over the course of six months. And they all had one thing in common... They all have had something wrong with them. That being said, I'm starting to accept the fact that all the repairs that I have done to the robots is a good part of the learning experience of robotics. This little robot is no different. As others have said, it is a 'bare bones' kit, no cameras, no automation, no lights, just the minimum functionality that can only be programmed with JSON. But, for $99, not too bad. The top clear plastic covering did break on me though, so I now have to deal with that.

This is a stripped-down version of the other Waveshare robots. Controller board is included, but no Pi. Just bare bones. Great for seeing if you want to invest more in their products. Also good for amusing cats :) BTW, their customer service is sorely lacking.

I was looking to hook this up to a Pixhawk Cube for autopilot control. When I connected the motors to power, one DC motor was dead on arrival. It also doesn't have enough torque to move under it's own power, even with all the electronics weight removed. The gearing does next to nothing to fix the problem.

Good product

It is seriously a nice/great robot from a manufacturing perspective. I bought it to interface with a Raspberry PI, which it advertises and provides a connector plate, and they provide ZERO to NO documentation on it. Nothing. I emailed support and they responded with "we don't have that documentation". BUT if you are techy (hardware and software) you can figure this thing out. It is a great platform to introduce you to robotics. I'm adding cellular, gps, lidar and camera to it. The "robot" control hat in this thing has a lot of nice expansion ports (like the lidar). As I said, this is a great product and it is a great price too! I spent $50 on an Adeept Smart Car (made of acrylic) and a pain in lower sitting area to put together. I spent $95 on this and got a pre-built all metal robot. It's not the best thing out there but it is really good.

If only they made this in a lawn mower version that was in the shape of a Mario cart so I can sit on my couch and mow my lawn from my smart phone for $100. Just mount a forward facing camera on the cart flag poll.

Received and it is on my shelf waiting for me to assemble and test. Price was good for what it is, if it works good with a raspberry pi4 controller on it I might buy a bunch more for doing hive programming.