EZ-Robot

EZ-Robot is probably one of the best systems for beginners to cut their teeth in the World of robotics. That is not to say this is a starter set that you grow out of, rather as time goes on, you’ll use it in different ways to achieve what you want to.

Unlike the Raspberry Pi that gets repurposed for use in a robot, EZ robot is designed solely for that. One of the main issues with using a Pi is the time and learning curve before you start seeing results. Many projects have been left by the wayside and have not been updated to work on more modern versions of Raspian with libraries missing or since renamed, it can be a head scratcher at times. As these are open source projects there is only normally the community support and help forums to help sort things out.

With the EZ-B v4 hardware and EZ-Robot software, it is possible to see instant results as the software has been designed to work fully with the EZ-B hardware. There is a thriving community but also because this a product designed with one task, the support is there with many video tutorials with tech support, it makes life easier.

A lot of powerful functions are added as standard such as face recognition, motion tracking, following a particular colour, ultrasonic sensors, servos, etc. There are also add ons to add motors and more sensors.

The other great thing is you can buy a complete robot kit (of which there are humanoid to two wheelers to multi-legged robots) or just the EZ-B v4 development kit and if have a 3D printer, you can download each robot design and print out the parts. This also means if you bought a kit and a part gets broken you can print a spare instantly.

There is one drawback with the EZ-B, it needs a WiFi connection (v3 it was Bluetooth). It also needs either a windows based computer or an Apple iPhone or Androidto run the code.

The computer can be on the other side of the world running the code but if the EZ-B disconnects from the WiFi then that’s it, no way to run code. This is where the Pi has an advantage in that it can work without needing a WiFi connection

However, so many things need WiFi to work that this shouldn’t be a deal breaker.