Introduction to ELECFREAKS XGO Robot Dog Kit

---What is the XGO Robot Kit?

With the development of technology, AI Robot is a rather advanced achievement and it is applied to many aspects of our lives such as the industries of clothing, food, building, transportation, etc., and it is a comparatively mature technology that helps people to make things easier and faster. In this blog I am taking the AI robot analysis into consideration of how its role could play in the teaching field to guide students even in their primary school stage, more specifically speaking, the XGO Robot Dog Kits from ELECFREAKS.

At the very beginning of the introduction to the XGO Robot, I believe most of the readers to this blog are familiar with the BBC micro:bit, which is a pocket-sized smart computer board that can get connected to a computer to achieve the graphical programming operation methods for the students to learn programming in classes, based on this board, we are doing the expansion robots.

The XGO Robot Kits from ELECFREAKS is a desk-top level robot that can be used as teaching equipment in the educational class, it is an AI dog robot with 12 DOFs designed for artificial intelligence education for teenagers. It supports Omni-movement and is able to perform as a real pet dog. Students can get a good understanding of AI technology by learning the mechanism, the electronic knowledge, programming, and the AI while playing it.

---Types of the XGO Robot Kit from ELECFREAKS

There are two types of the XGO Robot Dog for micro:bit board from ELECFREAKS, the first generation is a basic robot body with a Ring:bit breakout board from ELECFREAKS. See the picture for reference below:

The XGO Robot Dog Kit is a basic type with the head from the Ring:bit breakout board from ELECFREAKS, it can connect with the micro:bit and work with the MakeCode platform, by programming, we can write different commands that can control the basic movements of the XGO, besides the programming method, it also supports the APP control and you may download the APP from the WIKI contents that are published in the website.

The second version for micro:bit is the XGO Robot Kit V2, this is an advanced version with some more shinning points, see the picture below:

It is a desktop Al quadruped robot dog with fifteen degrees of freedom with the combination of both bionics and AI technology. The advanced point is that it is equipped with a robotic arm and end grippers on the back, which can flexibly pick up and carry objects. At the same time, it is equipped with an XGO Adapter expansion board with GPIO interface and IIC interface to meet your more innovative applications. XGO Robot Kit V2 uses 2.3KG.CM bus serial port steering gear as the joint, which can realize omnidirectional movement, six-dimensional attitude control, attitude stability, various motion gaits, and clamping tasks, and is equipped with IMU, joint position sensor, and the current sensor inside Feedback its posture, joint rotation angle, and torque for internal algorithm and secondary development.

The featured most point compared with the first generation of the XGO is the Robot Arm as the add-on, it can do the scratching and holding actions which makes the programming learning more interesting and vivid, also, the customized breakout board has made a tight connection, more function resources and better outlook with cooler feelings.

Besides the micro:bit programming method that caters to the programming learning for primary school students, the Raspberry Pi is a better option for students in higher grades, thus, the CM4 XGO Robot Dog kit for Raspberry Pi comes into being, see the picture for your reference below:

It is a desktop Al robot dog also with 15 freedom of degrees, equipped with a robotic arm and end grippers on the back, a built-in Raspberry Pi CM4 module to realize AI edge computing applications, and uses 2.3KG.CM bus serial servo as the joint, which can realize omnidirectional movement, six-dimensional attitude control, attitude stability, multiple motion gaits, and clamping tasks, and is equipped with IMU, joint position sensors, and current sensors to feed back its attitude, joint rotation angle, and torque, which are used for internal algorithms and two-dimensional secondary development. Support cross-platform graphics, Python programming, and ROS programming.

From the introduction information we can see many more advanced features could be achieved on it, the most significant feature would be the CM4 module inside the camera which can complete more complicated tasks, such as following your movement with the identification of your face, to sing, to dance and more.

Conclusion:

The mentioned three XGO robot kits are all in lithium battery pack versions with adapters in European standards, American Standards, British Standards, and Australian Standards available. In terms of the programming, for the micro:bit version you can do it in MakeCode or just by the APP control, and for the Raspberry Pi version you may do it in the graphics, python, or just the ROS.  No matter which country you are from, there is one that could meet your demands.

ELECFREAKS provides completed educational equipment mostly based on the micro:bit boards, in terms of the AI Robot teaching equipment at the desktop level, there are seldom competitors who can provide the same or similar product with the combination of the micro:bit. ELECFREAKS provides more selections for such teaching demands with different programming levels and pricing.

Hope this blog will bring with you a deeper impression and understanding of the XGO robot choices we provide, and we are always on the way to thinking of new and interesting ways to get programming more hands-on, if you have any questions or requests, please feel free to reach us at services@elecfreaks.com.