Overview
A spider-style Raspberry Pi kit with an aluminum alloy frame and legs that splay out sideways. It has 12 metal-gear servos, three per leg, plus a camera, an ultrasonic sensor, a microphone and a speaker. SunFounder's tutorials cover face, color, gesture and QR code recognition, obstacle avoidance and recording new steps. The AI revision adds voice chat with cloud LLMs or a local Ollama model, and control through the OpenClaw agent.
It is SunFounder's lower-cost sibling to PiDog, trading the dog's moving head, tail and touch sensors for a third servo in each leg. Next to the ACEBOTT QD020, which has eight servos and no sensors, it adds vision, sound and far more software. The Raspberry Pi is bought separately, and a Pi 4 or 5 is needed for OpenClaw. It suits teens and hobbyists learning Python, computer vision and LLM robotics on a budget.
- Type
- Quadruped robot · Desktop / hobby kits
- Maker
- SunFounder (China)
- Released
- 2021
- Price
- $139.99 (Raspberry Pi not included)
- Status
- Available
- Best for
- Ages 12+
- Programming
- Full SDK
Price and shipping
Kit without a Raspberry Pi, in silver (in stock) or white (sold out) on SunFounder's store, October 2026. Year based on the store listing (2021). The GitHub repository dates from 2020. The current AI revision adds LLM and OpenClaw examples, and the microphone appears to be new to it (unconfirmed).
Shipping: ~7–14 business days. SunFounder's store listed the silver kit in stock at $139.99 with free shipping on an October 2026 check. Orders under $400 go to the US by registered airmail in 7–14 working days. No Amazon US listing was found. Raspberry Pi bought separately. SunFounder ↗
Specifications
| Category | Quadrupeds · Desktop / hobby kits |
|---|---|
| Released | 2021 |
| Country | China |
| Availability | Available |
| Programmability | Full SDK |
| Built-in autonomy | Reactive · Responds to its surroundings without a map, such as avoiding obstacles or following a person |
| LLM support | Official LLM tools · SunFounder supplies voice-chat examples for ChatGPT, Gemini, Grok, DeepSeek, Qwen, Doubao and local Ollama models, plus a guide to controlling the robot through the OpenClaw AI agent. OpenClaw needs at least 1 GB of RAM, so it won't run on a Raspberry Pi Zero 2W. SunFounder PiCrawler docs ↗ |
| MuJoCo simulation | None found · Nothing found. |
| NVIDIA Isaac simulation | None found · Nothing found. |
| Gazebo simulation | None found · Nothing found. |
| Best for | Ages 12+ (estimated) |
| Vision sensors | Camera, Sonar / ultrasonic |
| Actuators | Hobby servos |
| Audio | Speaker, Microphone |
| Compute type | Raspberry Pi |
| Compute | Raspberry Pi 5/4B/3B+/3B/Zero 2W (not included) on SunFounder's Robot HAT V4 |
| Weight | Not published. Rechargeable battery charged through the Robot HAT's USB-C port |
| Speed | Not published |
| DOF | 12 metal-gear servos, 3 per leg |
| Sensors | Camera, ultrasonic sensor, microphone, speaker on the Robot HAT |
| SDK | Open-source Python library on GitHub (GPL-3.0), Ezblock Studio block coding, SunFounder app with FPV view, OpenCV vision and STT/TTS/LLM examples |
Common questions
How much does PiCrawler cost?
PiCrawler is listed at $139.99 (Raspberry Pi not included). Kit without a Raspberry Pi, in silver (in stock) or white (sold out) on SunFounder's store, October 2026. Year based on the store listing (2021). The GitHub repository dates from 2020. The current AI revision adds LLM and OpenClaw examples, and the microphone appears to be new to it (unconfirmed).
Can PiCrawler be bought today?
Yes, it is on sale. Typical shipping time is ~7–14 business days. SunFounder's store listed the silver kit in stock at $139.99 with free shipping on an October 2026 check. Orders under $400 go to the US by registered airmail in 7–14 working days. No Amazon US listing was found. Raspberry Pi bought separately.
Who makes PiCrawler?
PiCrawler is made by SunFounder (China). It came out in 2021.
Can PiCrawler be programmed?
Full SDK. Open-source Python library on GitHub (GPL-3.0), Ezblock Studio block coding, SunFounder app with FPV view, OpenCV vision and STT/TTS/LLM examples.
Does PiCrawler have AI chat or LLM support?
Official LLM tools. SunFounder supplies voice-chat examples for ChatGPT, Gemini, Grok, DeepSeek, Qwen, Doubao and local Ollama models, plus a guide to controlling the robot through the OpenClaw AI agent. OpenClaw needs at least 1 GB of RAM, so it won't run on a Raspberry Pi Zero 2W.
What age is PiCrawler for?
Ages 12+ (estimated).
Ratings & reviews
Ratings and reviews load on the live site.
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- 8 vs 12 DOF Robot Dogs · two or three motors per leg
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