👍 Recommendation Though expensive, this has a solid construction, and is a reliable platform to build exciting project from. 👍 Recommendation Elecfreaks XGO CM4 Robot Kit for Raspberry Pi Features & Functionality Whats in the box User instructions & Documentation Ease of use Availability Asthetics Price Programming Review Score Elecfreaks XGO CM4 Robot Kit for Raspberry Pi The Elecfreaks XGO robotic dog kit for the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 is amazing to see in real life. Its has an all metal construction making it solid and robust, and it looks amazing - the fit and finish is clearly very polished and high quality. Features & Functionality The robot has 4 legs, each with 3 degrees of freedom, and also a robotic arm on top that also has 3 degrees of freedom. This means the robot has 15 degrees of freedom, which is pretty impressive. Another impressive feature of this robot is the inclusion of a Raspberry Pi Compute module 4; this enables the robot to do some incredible on device AI and machine learning feats. Paired with the onboard camera and display, this makes the robot engaging, fun and very adaptable. The robot comes with a charger, which has a well designed and thoughtfully placed charge connector on the robot to charge the onboard LiPo battery up before use. The charger has an indicator light that is red during charing and green once its complete. The robot also comes in a stunning carry case, with foam inserts to keep it secured and inplace during transport. The kit also comes with a number of accessories. Whats in the box The Carry case includes: CM4 XGO Robot Charger Micro HDMI Cable USB-C Hub Instruction Manual Coloured Balls and Cubes Screw Driver Spare Screws User instructions & Documentation The kit comes with some simple instructions, telling you how to setup the robot and get started with the build-in demo programs. There is also a suite of documentation on the Elecfreaks website. 1 Ease of use The robot kit comes fully assembled, all you need to do is press the button on the top to switch it on. The robot will then stand up, stretch its arm and then retract the arm. By this time the front screen will have booted up (the robot has two independent controllers in it). There are two apps: XGO - Basic control of the robot, and demo apps XGOBot - Video feed and advanced programming Both are available from Apple’s App store. Availability You can buy the robot from Amazon or from Elecfreaks directly, via their website. Asthetics The robot is all metal and has a great finish to it. It looks like a smaller version of the Boston Dynamics Spot robot, particularly with the arm on the back. Price The price is the only sore point to this robot, at £749 Programming Review Score Below is the Kevs Robots review framework. First, each product is scored out of 5 for each of the 9 areas. The total score is then calculated by adding the scores for each area and dividing by 9. The total score is then rounded to the nearest whole number. Scoring area 1 2 3 4 5 Price Very Expensive, verging on not worth it Expensive, but worth it for the value add Affordable, similar in price to competitors Cheap / great value for the parts and features Free / Very low cost Ease of use Hard to use, complex operations requiring multipe steps Many steps, some of which as complex. Some steps to construct or operate, some of which are complex Few steps, simple to do Very easy to use / use is obvious and clear Functionality Very little innovation or usefulness Does less then you’d expect, but still useful Practice, does what you expect but no more Quite a few innovative functions, does more than you’d expect Amazing features & innovation, industry leading Availability Very difficult to get hold of any variation or version Little available; some variations or versions are available Available in some countries and stocks mostly available Available in most countries & mostly in stock, short wait for stock replenishment All versions and variations widely available in all countries & in stock Aesthetics Design is not pleasing to the eye; poor colour choice, parts do not fit together, no cohesive design Design is acceptable, some elements do not work together well Design is functional, no overall cohesion Design is functional with some flair, most elements work together well Very pleasing to the eye, complimentary colour choices, great fit and finish, with an overall cohesive design Build Quality Poor construction, with gaps or overlapping parts. Poor quality materials used Functional construction, cheap materials Functional construction, acceptable materials used Durable design, some parts are high quality, most are acceptable Solid construction, parts fit together as intended with no unexpected gaps or overlapping parts. High quality materials and parts used Documentation Single language instructions, no diagrams, basic features only Basic instructions, technical specifications in a few languages, little no diagrams, no example code Basic instructions, technical specifications in a few languages, diagrams for use. Some example code Documentation available in multiple languages, with all features covered and diagrams for use. Some example code Documentation available in multiple languages, with all features covered and simple diagrams for use. Mechanical and circuit diagrams also included. Example code. Advanced topics covered too Packaging Little to no thought given to environment. Wasteful use of space leading to higher shipping costs. Excess layers of packaging Some thought given to environmental packaging & recycling. A few layers of packaging Some thought given to environmental packaging materials & recycling. Single layer of packaging Environmentally friendly, packaging designed for recycling with some effort. Packaging is has mostly efficient use of space to cut down on shipping costs Environmentally friendly, packaging designed for easy recycling. Packaging is small with efficient use of space to cut down on shipping costs Environmental No consideration given to sourcing, production, supply, delivery or disposal of product, with toxic chemicals used in production No consideration given to sourcing, production, supply, delivery or disposal of product Product is efficient to operate, but may have poor environmental production or disposal impacts Most of the product is sourced from recycled materials, no toxic chemicals used in production, some thought given to production and delivery energy used Product is sourced from 100% recycled materials, with no toxic chemicals used in production. produced with clean energy, packaging designed to lower delivery costs and disposal of product is taken care of total is 4.0 🎁 🤝 See the transparency notes for details. At the time of this writing only the Micro:bit documentation is available on the website. ↩