Key Takeaways
- Build a miniature Mars Rover with Raspberry Pi Zero or Microbit.
- Kit available from 4tronix, costs £51.80 ($191.90), requires additional hardware.
- Open-source code allows customization, features suspension and ultrasound distance sensor.
We love the Raspberry Pi here at XDA, simply because there’s so much you can do with it. If you’re a gamer, you can turn you Raspberry Pi into a retro gaming console. If you’re more of a productivity kind of person, you can put lots of different operating systems on your Raspberry Pi to fit what you want it to do. Now, it’s time for the robotics fans to shine, as you can grab this miniature Mars Rover kit that runs off of a Pi Zero and comes with some amazing suspension.
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Build your own tiny Mars Rover with Raspberry Pi
As spotted on the official Raspberry Pi website, the 4tronix website in the UK is selling Mars Rovers you can build using either a Microbit or a Pi Zero. You’re going to need to supply some of the hardware yourself, as the kit doesn’t contain a Pi Zero or the batteries required to power it. However, once you’ve gathered all the bits, 4tronix is pretty confident that it shouldn’t be too tricky to build. It gives an estimated build time of 2 hours if you’re a whiz at making Raspberry Pi kits, and around double that if you’re new.
Once you’ve got it built, you’ll have a really cool rover that ticks all the boxes. It features suspension like the real Mars Rover, allowing it to scale over rocks. The “eyes” at the top house an ultrasound distance sensor which you can swivel around. Plus, the code is all open-source, so you can tinker with its brains as much as you like.
If you’re interested, head over to 4tronix and pick one up for £151.80 ($191.90). And if you want to check out the fine details project before you put down any money, take a peek at the Mars Rover assembly guide and the source code.
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4tronix Mars Rover Robot for Pi Zero
The 4tronix M.A.R.S. Rover is loosely based on the Curiosity and Mars 2020 rovers from NASA/JPL. It uses the same rocker arm, bogey, and differential arm mechanism.
You should allow 2 hours to build this if you are used to assembling kits of this nature. If it is your first assembly of something like this, then you may have to double the expected timeframe.
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Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W
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