It’s been a little while since we’ve seen a full robot kit in the magazine, rather than just boards and controllers. The Chickbot is an educational robot kit aimed squarely at beginners, with a bigger focus on programming the robot than other aspects of it. Due to this programming focus, the actual physical chassis itself is very simple and bare-bones, requiring very little to actually build it from the supplied kit.
The build itself is very simple, with not even a screwdriver involved to put the chassis together until you start wiring in the motor cables. It’s so low-tech, the tyres for the wheels are made from cut-up balloons, which are a bit of a nightmare to put on properly; this probably does help to keep the cost down on the overall kit, though. We put it together in about an episode-and-a-half of Pokémon, so roughly half an hour, with the only really tricky bit being making sure all the right motor cables were going in the correct slot. It does come with some instructions, but a more thorough walkthrough guide is provided online that was of slightly more use to us.
Speed build
The build is a little flimsy and we’re mildly concerned over how well the robot will fare with beginners playing around with it. It’s not like it’s going to completely shatter if you hit a wall at full speed (it’s not particularly fast anyway), although if you find yourself doing this, sticking a little foam tactically around the edge is pretty simple and quick.
A lot of the learning and building that’s part of Chickbot is hosted on the website, and at the time of writing it’s still under construction. [Ed's note: Since this review was published in the magazine, the tutorials have been updated and you can find them on the Chickbot site] A series of programming tutorials for the Raspberry Pi version are still being written, although it will guide you through a very basic program to get the LED and buzzer working in a preprogrammed manner. These tutorials are written in Python and use the RPi.GPIO library instead of GPIO Zero, and the robot needs to be programmed completely manually rather than using any supplied module or library. There’s at least a well-commented Python script to get you going; however, it can be a little tricky for a beginner to parse effectively and learn from.
The Arduino version is fully supported right now, with several tutorials on how to get the robot working, moving, and singing. The tutorials are useful and explain what they’re doing in detail, so you’ll definitely learn in the process. So far, this level of explanation is present in the available Raspberry Pi documentation, but it may be a little while before this full level of support is available on the website.
As for using it with a Raspberry Pi, really your best bet is a Model A+ or a Raspberry Pi Zero. The robot isn’t very fast, so you could feasibly hold a full-sized Pi as it trundles along, but a full-sized Pi rests awkwardly on top of the robot. The Zero and A+ fit a bit more snugly on top and don’t significantly add to the weight of the chassis. While the tutorials suggest you hook it up to a monitor so you can program it manually in Python before running the script, we suggest prepping the Pi first to make sure you can SSH into it. That way you don’t have to worry about cables running off the robot as you test it out, although for the lights and buzzer programs it’s safe to hook it up.
Great potential
Overall, the Chickbot is an interesting kit. We like how cheap it is and its focus on programming; however, for the programming side it does need the documentation to make it truly worthwhile. It must be said that it’s still considered largely a beta product, so it will get this documentation; we’ve been told some more will be up by the time we go to press. If this sounds like a product you’re interested in, then keep an eye out on the Chickbot website to figure out when the documentation is in a state that’s ready for you.
Last word
3/5
A great little idea, but right now the Raspberry Pi version doesn't have quite enough documentation to make it as educational as it wants to be.
