Is GoPiGo3 the right hardware for my Project?

Hi there,

I am interested in building my own mowing robot. Unfortunately, I dont know a lot about robot topic yet, so i need help in the desicion what hardware can be the right for me.
What impresses me at gopigo is the software which makes it possible to build the control, using gopigp3 even in java.

For a mowing robot we consider only the drive. I need stronger servo motors and a 12v battery, at best a car baterry.

I need at least a compass and a camera for control.
I would program in Java with OpenCV for the object recognition.

Is it possible change the servos to some stronger 12v servos, even so the gopigo can determine the turning speed of the tires, does it make sense at all? Is gopigo the right tool?

Hi @dev.td,


In order to control a big robot, you need a really powerful motor driver.
And in order to control big, power-hungry, servos, you need a separate servo controller.

Both the motor driver and the servo controller could ultimately be controlled through I2C, provided you find the right modules.

In order to control these supposed modules, you’d just need the I2C ports of the GoPiGo3 board. A GrovePi would do the same job, since the I2C modules are directly visible from the Raspberry Pi.


So, in case the motors/servos are really big, here are the reasons for why I’d go with a GoPiGo3 board:

  • Soldering can be avoided by using the provided I2C ports instead of creating a new circuit from top to bottom.

  • The GoPiGo3 already has a good library which can then be used to control/monitor anything you want: sensors, digital modules, relays, small motors/servos, LEDs, etc.

And here’s the reason I wouldn’t go with it:

  • The GoPiGo3 wasn’t designed to drive large-wattage stuff. So you need some sort of adapters for it.

Again, all this depends on what application you’re developing. So I encourage you to tell us more specifics about your project.
Tell us what servos you have decided to use, what is your project supposed to do, why you want to use a battery car, etc.

Giving us a lot more details is going to help us help you more.


Thank you!