robotindex Waveshare UGV02
A bare 6-wheel/4WD aluminum chassis with an ESP32 motion controller — no Raspberry Pi, Jetson, or camera included at its $149.99 base price. The pan-tilt camera and Picatinny-style rail visible in this photo are Waveshare's separately-sold add-on module, not part of the base kit; built up this way, it approximates Waveshare's own pricier, pre-integrated "UGV Rover" kit.
waveshare.com/ugv02 →
Image: user-submitted
Specs
Battery
3× 18650 Li-ionnot included; ~45 min runtime, ~1.5 hr charge
Weight
2 kgbare aluminum chassis, no host computer/battery — waveshare.com official specs
Dimensions
25.2 × 23.0 × 9.4 cmwaveshare.com official specs
Compute
ESP32 driver onlyPi, Jetson Nano/Orin, or Sunrise X3 as host — none included
Software
ROS2 (Humble)-capableon a Pi/Jetson host; bare ESP32 uses JSON over serial/HTTP
Drive
4× DC geared motor, 4WD6 wheels, 4 driven; skid-steer, zero-radius turn
Chassis
Aluminum, 6-wheel4kg payload rated
Speed / Climb
0.05–1.3 m/s22° max incline, ~40mm obstacle clearance
Included Rails
2× aluminum extension railgeneric mounting — not the Picatinny rail shown here
Camera / Pan-Tilt
Not included on base kitthis photo shows Waveshare's separate 2-axis add-on module
Reference Price
The bare UGV02 chassis lists at $149.99 direct from Waveshare (RobotShop and OpenELAB carry it for somewhat more, $170.65 and €209 respectively), and the pan-tilt camera module shown mounted in this photo sells separately for $109.99. Bought as two pieces, that's roughly $260 before adding a host computer — in the same range as Waveshare's own pre-integrated "UGV Rover" kit ($244.99–$486.99), which is essentially this same build sold assembled with a Raspberry Pi included.
Insights
Software across Waveshare's ESP32 firmware and Raspberry Pi control-stack repos is genuinely GPL-3.0, a real OSI-approved open-source license, unlike several other kits in this subcategory. The light beside the camera is documented only as a visible-spectrum LED fill light for low-light shooting — no official spec describes true infrared or night-vision capability, despite how it may look in photos.
Firmware & Community
waveshareteam/ugv_rpi
Raspberry Pi/ESP32-powered tracked rover chassis with open firmware and demo code for motion control, ROS, and AI-camera vision — hardware is documented but not formally open-licensed.
Specs compiled from Waveshare's official product page, wiki, and GitHub repositories as of this build. The pictured unit's exact configuration (bare chassis plus the separate pan-tilt camera module) and the "fill light" vs. infrared question were not independently re-verified against this specific physical unit — confirm before purchase.