Petoi’s entry-level pet robots have been entertaining us ever since the plywood Nybble graced the cover of Make: Volume 70. And the more recent Bittle X and Nybble Q are some of the most charming robots I’ve had the pleasure of holding in my hand. Now Petoi has launched Quaddle, a new model that’s smarter and even more accessible than before.
Quaddle comes in three versions: Builder, Buddy, and Scout. Each model has traded a plastic face for an OLED screen that’s capable of more nuanced expressions and showing important diagnostic data. Sensors have moved from individual bone-shaped boards to being integrated in the bots. The goal is to make Quaddle the go-to robot for anyone just starting out in the world of walking robotics.
It took a lot to get here. To get the cost down, the servos were reduced from two per leg to one. They developed a leg mechanism that could walk and do backflips using only springs and clever mechanics. Founder Dr. Rongzhong Li spent two years living at the servo factory, developing the robot and servos together. After much effort and countless iterations, the result is more durable and affordable than ever before. And it’s still powered by OpenCat software, so you can share behaviors with the community.
We enjoyed seeing the built-in object-tracking behavior and a new sliding trick on a recent video call. And you can now record new motions and calibrate the servos without a computer. I wasn’t able to play around with some of the programming (a fault on my side, not Petoi’s), and triggering some of the demo behavior took some finessing. But we were running old firmware at the time; they’ve added new features and polish since our samples shipped out.
You can try out Quaddle today in the online simulator. And you can experience the new features yourself through the Kickstarter campaign, or if you’re in the area, see them in person at Maker Faire Bay Area in two weeks. And they’ll also be at Maker Faire Shenzhen.
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