The Waveshare UGV Beast is an off-road robot featuring tracked wheels, created to be compatible with Raspberry Pi 4 or 5 SBC for handling AI vision and strategic planning. Its movement control and sensor data handling are managed by an ESP32 sub-controller.
The design may seem familiar as this model is a modified version of the UGV Rover unmanned ground vehicle covered in 2024. This upgrade swaps the original six wheels for two continuous tracks similar to military tanks, enhancing its ability to navigate challenging terrain.
The Waveshare UGV Beast’s specifications include:
– Supported SBCs: Raspberry Pi 4B or Raspberry Pi 5
– Multi-function driver board/sub-controller:
– Main SoC: ESP32 wireless microcontroller with WiFi, Bluetooth, and ESPNOW
– Motor drivers: Two TB6612FNG chips
– Peripheral interfaces: Four motor control connectors, two servo connectors, Lidar USB (4-pin) and UART (USB-C) connectors, two 4-pin I2C connectors
– Sensor: 9-axis attitude sensor (ICM20948) for image stabilization
– Miscellaneous: EN and user buttons
– Power: Two 12V switch controllers by ESP32 IO4 and IO5 pins; battery voltage monitoring via INA219
– Audio driver board:
– SSS1629A5 USB audio chip
– APA2068 audio amplifier
– Stereo speaker and microphone
– 3.5mm audio jack
– USB-C port
– 4-pin Lidar UART interface
– Optional pan-and-tilt camera:
– 5MP camera with 160° field of view
– ST3215 servo with 30kg.cm torque
– Two degrees of freedom: pan and tilt
– 360° horizontal and 120° vertical rotation
– High-brightness LED for low-light conditions
– Connectivity:
– Gigabit Ethernet, WiFi 5, and Bluetooth 5 on Raspberry Pi 4/5 SBC
– 2.4 GHz WiFi and Bluetooth on ESP32, plus ESP-NOW support
– Optional 4G LTE/5G module
– Expansion: 40-pin GPIO header
– Mechanical features:
– 2mm thick aluminum alloy body
– Two 1020 European standard profile rails for peripherals
– Suspension: Stainless steel
– Two continuous wheels: 40mm track width, 0M minimum turning radius (in-situ rotation), 0.35m/s max speed
– Smartphone holder support
– Power Options: Holder for three 18650 Lithium batteries, 3S UPS module
– Dimensions and weight:
– Without camera: 232×197×122mm, 2.034 kg
– With PT camera: 232×197×252mm, 2.35 kg
The Raspberry Pi 4/5 SBC supports Debian Bookworm and ROS2-HUMBLE-LTS. There’s no app requirement as the UGV Beast can be controlled via a web browser on a smartphone, tablet, or computer, leveraging a lightweight Flask web app with WebRTC real-time transmission. While the company mentions JupyterLab for tutorials, this part remains under development.
The robot is programmable in Python, supporting OpenCV for tasks such as color recognition, face recognition, gesture control, and line tracking. Integrating OpenCV with the MediaPipe framework allows for sophisticated computer vision tasks and real-time video analytics. ESP-NOW protocol support enables efficient robot-to-robot communication. More resources and tutorials are detailed in Waveshare’s wiki.
For pricing, the UGV Beast chassis starts at about $360 on AliExpress and $370 on Amazon without the Raspberry Pi or camera. Full kits with PT camera and Raspberry Pi reloaded with ROS2 are available for higher prices on AliExpress and Amazon. Additionally, Waveshare sells these kits directly through their shop.