Tiny 4WD Robot Rover: new Pi Zero robotics kit from Pi Wars designer

The Tiny 4WD Robot Rober is a new Pi Zero kit built by Coretec Robotics.

Perennial Pi Wars champion Brian Corteil has partnered with Pimoroni to launch the £55 Tiny 4WD kit.

The Tiny 4WD is close, but not identical, to Brian’s remote-controlled robot detailed in issue 51 of The MagPi. “The reason for the change to the Pimoroni pHAT,” Brian tells us, “was to get the price of the kit below £60. If a ZeroBorg was used, the kit would have been closer to £90 to £100.”

Tiny 4WD Robot Rover kit for Pi Zero

The Explorer pHAT also “has buffered 5V inputs/outputs plus four analogue inputs, allowing a range of sensors to be added.”

When selecting motors, Brian advises “the 50:1 ratio [motors] are a great choice for general use. A higher ratio, say 20:1, makes the robot into a more sporty model, [but] turning on the spot and climbing is not as good due to lower torque. For computer vision and sensors, the 298:1 motors are more suitable, due to the lower speed.”

Emma Norling was lucky enough to win a Tiny 4WD kit recently and shared her experience with it. The kit is “really simple to put together, and nice and robust. I’ve had experience before with kits that are tricky to put together, but ultimately robust; or simple to put together but [of] poor build quality – this one wins on both counts.”

You can buy the CoreTec Tiny 4WD Robot Rover kit from Pimoroni for £55.