Review
(^188) The Official Raspberry Pi Projects Book raspberrypi.org/magpi
Tiny 4WD
is a small
but powerful
robot that
you build
yourself
Coretec
Maker
Says
TINY 4WD
ROBOT KIT
f you read issue 51 of
The MagPi magazine, you’ll
remember a robot on the
cover that you could make yourself.
Its designer, Brian Corteil, has
taken the lessons from making
that robot to build an all-new
improved version, which you
can buy directly from his Coretec
website (magpi.cc/Tiny4WD) and
from pimoroni.com.
The Tiny 4WD is the end result
of this learning process, and is
available as a kit that you build
yourself. All you need to supply
is a Pi and a way to power it (a
mobile USB battery charger will do
the trick). The kit is optimised for
a Pi Zero, with specific mounting
points on the chassis. However,
we tested it using a Raspberry Pi 3
and it worked well.
Easy build
The build is fairly quick. There
are only three parts to the
chassis, and one of these isn’t
necessary in its basic state. The
box recommends using the build
in The MagPi (magpi.cc/51) as
your instructions, but they don’t
quite fit this kit. Luckily, there’s
a great guide online, linked from
the Pimoroni website:
magpi.cc/2pXHCu8. Online
instructions aren’t ideal – it
would be nice to have printed
instructions in the box – but it’s
enough to get you started.
We managed to get the robot
up and running in just under two
episodes of Brooklyn Nine-Nine,
so we’d estimate 30-40 minutes’
build time, but it may take longer
depending on your skills with
a soldering iron. You’ll need to
Rob Zwetsloot looks at a tiny robot with a lot of power,
in a kit based on a magazine project
I
GOPIGO3
A more
expensive kit,
but it does
come with
sensors for
some proper
robotics. It’s
even easier for
newbies as well.
magpi.cc/2vpUPP8
Related
£95 / $99
TINY 4WD ROBOT KIT
The kit is optimised for a Pi
Zero, with specific mounting
points on the chassis