The Waveshare WAVEGO Pro is a 12-DOF bionic quadruped robot (robot dog) built around the ESP32 and Raspberry Pi, where the ESP32 sub-controller handles all real-time, low-level tasks. The optional Raspberry Pi 4B/5 host controller handles tasks like OpenCV vision algorithms, AI-based decision-making, and advanced control logic.
The robot uses 2.3 kg·cm serial bus servos (locked-rotor torque up to 5.2 kg·cm) with real-time position, speed, and voltage feedback, driven by an ESP32-D0WDQ6-V3 sub-controller for inverse kinematics and gait generation, and optionally a Raspberry Pi 4B/5 for AI vision and decision-making. It features 12 DOF legs with multi-link rods, a 5052 aluminum + PA12 nylon frame with 40 bearing joints, self-balancing via a 9-axis IMU, a 0.96″ OLED display, RGB LEDs, buzzer, USB-C, camera support, expansion ports, integrated battery management, and a 5200 mAh dual-18650 power supply.
All WAVEGO Pro software and code are open source for both ESP32 and Raspberry Pi, with demos and tutorials on Waveshare’s Wiki and GitHub. The ESP32 runs a real-time OS for inverse kinematics and gait control, supports Arduino IDE without extra setup, and starts a Wi-Fi hotspot for browser-based control. When paired with a Raspberry Pi 4B/5, it enables OpenCV vision features like facial recognition, motion detection, and color tracking via a Flask web app. The platform offers API references, gait debugging, calibration tools, PWM adjustment, and expansion through 2×5P GPIO/serial headers.
The WAVEGO Pro ESP32 and Raspberry Pi-based robot dog is priced at about $179 for the basic kit, which goes up to $369 for bundles with a pre-installed Raspberry Pi 4B or Pi 5 (4GB). It is available for purchase on AliExpress, Amazon, and the official Waveshare store.
Niladri Chowdhury 
Sayantan Nandy