In this post I’d like to review another product from a company that’s been making tons of products for makers, engineers, students and tinkerers like me. Elegoo, a company from Shenzehen(China), is known for its commitment to open source, a variety of products for STEM students, detailed guides in multiple languages and very low prices.
They are now selling some of their products on Amazon in multiple countries, including the US, making their products extremely fast to ship. In this post I’m going to review an item from Elegoo that I think would be a great tech gift for anybody interested in Arduino and Robotics: “Elegoo Robot Mini Car“.
Disclaimer: Elegoo has provided me with a sample of the item I’ll be reviewing.
Product description:
Elegoo Robot Mini Car is a STEM toy for kids age 6 or above. It is a full robot kit that comes disassembled and requires minor knowledge of STEM terminology. Arduino / Robotics novices would find this kit useful in order to understand basic principles present in hobby-level robotics. Using Arduino Nano as its brain, the Elegoo Robot Mini Car is packed with the following educational features:
- Line Tracking
- Obstacle Avoidance
- Graphical Programming via mobile app
- Remote Control via bluetooth + mobile app
Here’s what the product looks like when assembled:
And here’s a video of the assembled and functioning robot, operated with the iOS mobile app:
What’s inside the box:
- 2 High-torque geared Motors with wheels
- Laser Cut wood for the car body
- Rechargeable Li-Po battery
- Arduino Nano
- Main Circuit Board with bluetooth module, sensors, battery charging circuit and more
- Expansion board
- Stickers for the car body
- Detailed instructions
- Sample track for line following
- Phillips (+) screw driver
- All necessary nuts, bolts, standoffs and wires
I took some pictures of the components included in the kit:
Assembly Process:
The assembly process took me about 30 minutes from start to finish and was very well explained in the instructions that came with the kit. I didn’t have any problems following the instructions and was surprised how well the kit was fitting together.
Everything snapped into places perfectly and there was minimal frustration during the whole process. There could be more labeling necessary on the laser engraved parts, but thankfully the 3D pictures in the instruction manual do a good job showing you exactly how to match up the pieces.
There are 8 major steps of the assembly:
- Securing the control board to the car body
- Placing the motors
- Putting the tires onto the motors
- Affixing the battery
- Affixing the expansion board
- Assembling the body of the car
- Attaching the stickers
- Programming the Arduino
After those steps are complete, I was able to turn on the car, connect it to my iPhone via the Elegoo app and control it from the app. Here are some pictures I took of the assembly:
Elegoo provides really good instructions about programming the robot, you can download them here: http://www.elegoo.com/download/
Product Usage:
The app for this robot is available for both Android and iOS . The app offers many features to work with this smart car kit:
- Remote Control via Bluetooth Low Energy
- Block Editor for simple graphical programming
- DIY control board for invoking common functions
Here are the screenshots I took of the iOS app:
Verdict:
