Who says getting into tech needs to be expensive? If you want to try your hand at making a little robot rover, today's your lucky day. Someone has designed a rover that runs on a Raspberry Pi Pico, and you can get started with it for as little as $16.

The StoRPer: a Raspberry-Pi-powered DIY rover

As spotted by Tom's Hardware, the StoRPer is the invention of Jo Hinchliffe, a.k.a concretedog. Jo gave the rover its name because it's based on the Stomper toy that he played with in the 1980s, which would drive forward and surmount difficult terrain placed in front of it. Much like the name implies, the StoRPer is a mix of the original Stomper design with a Raspberry Pi board, and it comes with a modular design and open-source code.

The StoRPer is designed to be modular and easy to tinker with. The PCB board has breakouts where people can create adapters for add-ons, and they also feature what Jo refers to as the "Really Useful Hole" that allows people to thread wires between the top and the bottom of the board. The StoRPer can also have layers added on top of it, and can have its wheels exchanged for different styles.

The PCB board itself comes in at $16, and if you have a Raspberry Pi Pico and a 3D printer, you can 3D print the other components and add your board on top. If you don't have a 3D printer, Jo includes options on the store page to purchase additional components, and while not everyone will have a Raspberry Pi Pico on hand, they do sell for around $4. As such, this little rover makes for a great first project for the curious. And once you've built this, a Raspberry Pi 5 project would make for an excellent way to develop your skills further.