Adeept DarkPaw Bionic Quadruped Spider Robot Kit Compatible with Raspberry Pi 4 3 Model B+/B, STEM Crawling Robot, OpenCV, Self-stabilizing Based on MPU6050 Gyro Sensor, RPi Robot with PDF Manual

This is an advanced kit for assembling and running a legged robot. It takes quite a while to put together, and needs very good mechanical, electrical, and programming skills. High school or college level.Things you need to know:--Each leg is three-axis, position-controlled, not bang-bang. Axes consist of a horizontal hip, a coupled knee/ankle, and an ankle. Because the long, tall foot is attached with a scissors mechanism, two joints control foot position simultaneously.--Leg assemblies have four configurations, being left-handed, right-handed, up, and down. The version 1.0 instructions only show you one configuration; you have to mirror this to build the other three legs.--The Y piece needs to be inboard of the motors, that is, triangle, Y, spacer, triangle; not spacer Y as the v.1 diagrams show. Otherwise the Y piece will not connect with the No. 1 girder to the motor smoothly.--Adeept has very good instructions on the whole, and you should look at them on their website before starting with this kit, to get a feel for the level of challenge. See the links in the Q&A section above.--Although the body looks like it's made out of aluminum, it's actually shiny laser-cut plexiglas. This gives both strength and lightness. You have to peel the backing tape off, both sides. Use a wad of duct-tape to get this started.--Adeept has been very responsive, and stands behind their product for me. They have recently come out with a second version of the assembly manual.--The hundreds of small parts are kitted out into labeled envelopes. Adeept seems to include some extras on some of the small screws and nuts, as the tiny nuts have a habit of getting lost on the workbench. The envelopes and extras alone mark these guys as professionals who care, really outstanding.--This kit even includes a Raspberry Pi camera, which is designed into the robot. It's quite an advanced kit.--Batteries (size 18650, Samsung 20S is best) and Raspberry Pi shape B+ (3B+ etc) are not included.Also see Adeept's Mars Rover kit for something slightly easier to put together and direct.

I built this with my daughter, although I ended up doing most of the building as we got into it. Once it was completed she really enjoys programming and playing with it. If you have no experience with building complex models like this and/or with Raspberry Pis, it could probably be a bit intimidating to build. Let’s just say the instructions are not exactly ideal. It was only when I went looking for which servo goes to which port on the Pi (the instructions manage to omit this little detail) that I discovered a second set of instructions on a Google Drive folder somewhere that were much more clear—but I was 99% done at this point.

Missing a bag of screw, and some extra part and bad to fit in for some part while following instruction

I ordered DarkPaw a week ago and it arrived amazingly fast in less than 1 week, coming all the way from US to Germany. All parts are in good quality and complete. I already know I will have as much fun with it as with the last robot I have ordered from Adeept, the Picar B. The after-sell-service is also good. You can find detail-oriented introduction videos with lovely music and a forum, which is full of a variety of relevant topics. I had a software related question and went to forum, and I got an answer in 1 day. They reply the questions quite efficiently. I would definitely recommend people to buy it, especially for those who want to build their own robots and code with it. :)

Product Documentation is out of date, confusing, and written by the second language of the author. Software installation scripts are out-of-date, do not work, and support is horrible. Support basically sends you video's that mimic the documentation that does not work. After days of frustration, I removed their software and installed the manufacturers drivers to get some basic operations to work. I spent more time trying to debug their environment than writing the software from scratch. Read all the directions through on assembling the robot as documentation changes the components. For example, all robot legs are described to be installed in one way, but later on, 3 of 4 must be changed to work. If you are Linux literate, understand python programming, and can write your own installation scripts, this might be for you. On the positive side, the components appear to be well made, have a good fit, and well thought out.

Loved building and putting this together however if you are new to python. This might be a fun little project for you. If you look at previous reviews you find out real quick the code doesn't really work that they give you. So make it a project of your own which is what I did and now I know some python and have a remote control/ autonomous walking bot.

Granddaughter loves it. Still didn't receive certificate for repairPaid for nut not received

The best toy for my 13 year old ever! Like an extreme Lego kit but more advanced with the ability! I love it