Just read about some new robots… “Complete Package for Robotics Development”
(Does not include any batteries - needs about 30 watts before it will power up)
And $1300 or $2200 for that “complete” kit.
Yeah, I had seen that. Definitely pricey - targeted to the TurtleBot market no doubt.
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It certainly puts more processing capability on the bots, but selling a “complete kit” for autonomous mobile robots that has two power bricks that have to be plugged into the wall makes me question that they understand the market at all.
The biggest differentiator (from the Turtlebot) is the holonomic drivetrain. I have a feeling those wheels will not perform in my home robot environment as well as the GoPiGo3 drivetrain. The GoPiGo3 drivetrain (and wheel encoders) may be able to estimate location using far less computing power than these “Game Changing” robots.
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Game changing?
Maybe if the game is pinochle.
At least the Turtlebot comes with batteries, a charging dock, and the smarts to get there when they want a refill.
From the sound of it, this beastie will need either one HECK of a power-dense lithium battery pack or some gell-cells to run it.
Having a clever robot package is all well and good, but without an integrated power solution, it’s an expensive paperweight.
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Another new ROS2 platform - same price range
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It’s a great choice - for over two thousand smackers?
Nice bit of kit: Box, nicely done 'bot and accessories - but $2k worth?
For better than two grand it had better make breakfast, clean house, and do the dishes!
And you can buy ten GoPiGo’s for that money!
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All of this makes me wonder. . .
Where is all the GoPiGo-3 advertising? Or does MR only advertise cubelets?
Seriously! Everything these multi-thousand-dollar robots offer is true for the GoPiGo as well - and for almost a full order of magnitude less cost!
So, where’s the marketing? They should be shouting from the rooftops comparing these mega-bucks robots to the GoPiGo!
It’s almost like MR’s attitude toward the GoPiGo is that it can just go sod-off and die.
No disrespect intended towards @cleoqc, she seems to be the only one there that gives a damn, it’s just that I can’t help but feel that we of the GoPiGo community have been left out to dry.
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The GoPiGo3 seems to target the primary/secondary educational market. The college/graduate ROS market hasn’t been something they’ve targeted. It can be used for that (as we know), but doesn’t seem to be a focus. Which is fair enough - every company has to pick its priorities.
Of course I’d love to see a GoPiGo4 positioned as a low cost ROS robot 
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Honestly we’re waiting for Raspberry Pi to be available. There’s no point in advertising if we can’t sell because of Raspberry Pi availability. And no, we’re not happy about it.
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You can always advertise the robot for those who already have a Raspberry Pi.
Understand that the Pi3B+ may be in short supply or prohibitive due to cost (Amazon claims 1400 available but at $178).
The GoPiGo3 works with the Pi2 which appears to have better pricing and availability - (Amazon shows having nearly 5000 of at $78). Perhaps a special GoPiGo3/Pi2 kit at a $289 or $299 price point would sell? Has management evaluated this approach?
Inflation is a reality. I’m guessing the former $249 GoPiGo3 with Pi3B+ kit needs to be priced at $349. Looking at Amazon, there are 16,000 Pi4 4GB available for less than the Pi3B+, so could MR offer a GoPiGo3 with Pi4 at the $349 point?
You all are missing out on the “Learn ROS2” craze going on now, and a Pi4 GoPigo3 with an $88 LIDAR on top at $499 would probably sell well. Schools could buy three ROS2 GoPiGo3 for the price of one Turtlebot4. ROS2 has all the educational collateral; MR would need to offer the bot, with a ROS2 SDcard containing Ubuntu 20.04 lite with GoPiGo3 drivers and my GoPiGo3 ROS2 node using my install scripts as a base.) (Update: and ship the battery that has both a 12v and USB 5v output)
When MR bought DI, I thought it was strange to give away the existing DI educational collateral and choose to make money as a robot hardware vendor, but that seemed to be what MR was presenting as a business model. A “ROS2 GoPiGo3” at $499 or even $599 would seem to continue in that strategy. Am I missing something in this analysis?
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Whatever happened to the Raspberry Pi having a price point of $35?
It can’t just the scalpers, Raspberry Pi foundation could limit sales to established outlets or ban bot buyers.
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My $0.02: Raspberry Pi foundation is loving this - the interest in their $4 RP2040 chip seems to be all they talk about and publish about everywhere.
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Something just does not compute with the RPi situation.
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400,000 Pis are still being made every month, but most are going to businesses.
And somehow we can’t get any, even though, trust me, we tried… We are on many waitlists and we wait…
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Maybe better next year???
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Wouldn’t it be amazing if MR had an “Introducing the ROS2 GoPiGo3” campaign ready in 23Q2 as a batch of Pi4 2GB (or Pi4 4GB) become available?
My ROS2 GoPiGo3 bot seems to keep up with everything I threw at it so far with a Pi3B+ 1GB, but I have not tried to run the LIDAR/Encoders SLAM. (I believe Keith’s ROS1 SLAM was off-board so we don’t have any experience with it yet.)
I think MR would need to
- procure the version of the battery that (like Keith’s) has both 12v and 5v-USB output,
- procure a LIDAR
- make an adapter plate with standoffs from the GoPiGo3 top plate to mount the LIDAR adapter board below and the LIDAR above
- LIDAR (USB-C in my case) to RPi USB cable
- Battery USB to LIDAR adapter board power cable
- Create nice URDF (a Gazebo SDF would be great add)
- Image with Ubuntu (lite?), ROS2, GoPiGo3 ROS2 node, and the LIDAR node
- Applicable assembly direction web page
- Flashing image to SDcard (uses RPi Imager to setup WiFi, hostname, login password) directions webpage
- Basic “Test your ROS2 GoPiGo3” directions web page (ssh into bot - or web browser to a command shell from GoPiGo OS?)
- Pointer to ROS.org ROS2 tutorials (teaching ROS2 is not GoPiGo3 specific). iRobot is setting up a whole ROS2 education thing for their $1400 robot, but the ROS org tutorials are gems IMO.
MR could also have a few accessories for sale (with serious value add pricing):
- wireless gamepad “remote” and ROS2 gamepad node download
- PiCamera with mount, URDF section, ROS2 camera node download
- IMU (current BNO055 based product), cable, URDF section, ROS2 IMU node download
(This one is complicated - I created a GoPiGo IMU For ROS2 PyPi driver and node MR could use) - $4 Grove Ultrasonic Ranger, sensor mount, cable, URDF section, ROS2 node download
- Extra GoPiGo3 Top plate with spacers
- Lifting handle
- (stretch goal!) Oak-D-Lite with cables, and a mount to the bottom GoPiGo3 plate
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They really do have good materials.
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There is a forward looking opinion that an Oak-D-Lite (no LiDAR) GoPiGo3 would be better placed than a LiDAR GoPiGo3:
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