Yahboom Jetson Nano Robot Kit AI Smart Robotic Car Tank Chassis for Adults 3DOF Camera STEM Programmable Electronics Science Project Autopilot (Jetbot Without Jetson Nano)

I am an online instructor in robotics and have been using the Yahboom smart car in my classes. Still, I recently had the opportunity to evaluate the new Yahboom Jetbot built on the Nvidia Jetson. Here are my observations:Robot hardware: Excellent quality! The frame and components are a considerable improvement over plastic alternatives. The Yahboom Jetbot is made from thick aluminum, which provides excellent stability and ruggedness. Jetbot tracks are well fitted and performing. The component placement is logical and compact. The only exposed wire during operation is the cable to the camera, but it is sized not to be a hazard. The only complaint I have is the OLED display has no support and could get hit and break during rough handling. Nevertheless, this is a convenient readout for visibility into the robot status when running. The camera is mounted on servos with 3 degrees of movement, tilt, pan, and raise/lower.Building the Robot: This was amazingly easy. It only took a couple of hours to assemble the entire robot. The method of marking the different hardware was brilliant and allowed for a confusion-free build. The build instructions are decent, with lots of accurate pictures to follow. Do heed the warning about placing the servos in the middle position during the build. I didn’t, and it was a pain to change later. Overall it was a fun and easy experience.Image: The image is huge and takes a long time to download. Unfortunately, Yahboom does not offer an initial image on hard storage, so prepare for a long 32 to 64GB download to get the image.Initial usage: I had some trouble getting the wifi up and running in the beginning. However, Yahboom has cleverly provided three initial connection methods (direct monitor/keyboard, wifi hotspot, or USB). A simple USB cord worked well for me. The operating system is relatively standard ubuntu, with industry-standard controls and packages, so getting it up and running once inside was easy and familiar. The remote control from an android app worked amazingly well through wifi, allowing for a quick demonstration of basic functions without programming. There are even built-in modes utilizing the AI engine in exciting ways.Software: The stock robot package is written in python and well laid out into notebooks. The built-in dev environment Jupyter Lab makes it easy to start interactively through a simple HTTP connection. The code itself seems well documented and easy to navigate in the interactive environment. While I have not yet heavily modified the code or written my own, it looks easy enough to do so. I have not yet had a chance to explore AI packages, but they seem the stock packages and should be trouble-free.Negatives: It would be nice to have a few simple sensors to augment the intelligence. The design seems to be around the AI as the interface to the real world through sight, which is great for a learning tool. However, I would like to see some basic avoid sensors and distance sensors to complete the robot ensemble. The documentation of the software can be a bit confusing at times. It seems to have been updated, and some references are misprinted. The initial hotspot for the wifi connection didn’t work from the Yahboom image, but the other methods worked perfectly. The wifi antennas were a bit looser than I’d like to see and difficult to attach firmly to the body, but not a serious concern.Overall, this is an amazingly sturdy and capable robot in hardware and software. The intelligence capabilities are impressive. This is built onto a solid performing body that truly makes it a mobile intelligence device. The tools and interfaces are reasonably simple, given the capability. This robot will make a great platform to teach robotics and AI both separately and together. Teaching AI tends to be low-enjoyment book learning without a real-world interface. What better interface than a working robot!Dave Salch

Difficult installation, especially the screw nuts parts. The instruction says not to roll the steering engine during hardware installation, but it always hard not to do so. Dark rivits for fixing the light stripes cannot fit the mounting hole, which has a lose end, see the pic. The installation instruction turns out to be super messy with some mistakes such as the order red-blue-black plug-in, even worse, there are steps not shown, only if you compare carefully with some individual pics, or watch the tutorial videos can you find these hidden stetps. Also the instruction for first trials are quite confusing, such as 'Method A: Plug the network cable into the Jetson NANO board.' for connecting network to Jetbot, the rest of this method is missing, I has to figure out how to do the rest by myself. This is super unfriendly for beginners. Moreover, there are some underlying conditions, such as, you cannnot use a charger Micro-USB but one Micro-USB for data transmission, or the display monitor cannot be a laptop etc. The most disappointing of this product is the power plug which is too tight for easy damage after plug in and out.

This is an excellent kit. The design is pretty good and it's far sturdier than I expected. I have completed the basic hardware and software setup. Documentation was good I thought. So far I have had a bad SD card. I bought a new one and we will see if support sends me a replacement. Though I initially had some problems with other hardware, I completely charged my battery and reset all my hardware connections and all is working fine now. I plan on adding some additional servos, some method of induction charging, an additional IR Camera, a mic and speaker and possibly LIDAR.FYI... I painting mine white before I put it together. Ultimately I will 3D printing a cute looking bot shell for this.

Seems to be sturdy, but be ware of the MF85ZZ flange bearings in the drive wheel assemblies as they can be easily broken if the installation is over tightened(replacements can be found here on Amazon). Easy to assemble, seems to be a great platform for an intro to robotics & AI via Nvidia Jetson.

Product came shipped without the SD card TF card, email customer service ask if I can do anything about that. Buy a new one even give me the run about truth is if you lose this card you cannot use your jetbot the instructions they give you on the website do not work. You cannot download the image and flash it to a new SD card and boot your Jetbot. It does not work. I’ve tried everything. So I’ve had this thing for months and I have not gotten to use it at all and the company has done nothing to help. I talk to you a customer representative after explaining to him that the SD card did not come with it, which took about two days of explanation for some reason he just gave me the same instructions. Hundreds of dollars down the drain I even thought about using the parts for a different robot. You can’t do that either. I will just avoid this company and get your jet bot from waveshare

Don't make the same mistake as I did this is a piece of junk. The parts fit poorly the quality control if there is any is horrible. Even after assembly only some of it works properly the pan/tilt does not work the lift does. The documentation is horrible. I have not one good thing to say about this. Buy the nvidia jetbot stay away from this.