Yahboom Jetson Orin NX 8GB 117TOPS Development Kit for AI Edge Provide ROS Programming Courses Based on Core Module Ubuntu22.04 (Orin NX 8GB Basis Kit)

This kit is amazing, it is very fast due to the ssd and not to an sd card or internal memory like the low-end or previous models, it does not hang and you can navigate with several pages open, perfect for artificial intelligence

I originally ordered a robot from Yahboom and figured out fairly quickly that I was in over my head having to learn the Linux and Python coding and electronics first. So I decided to focus on this development kit from Yahboom instead to learn to do some AI coding before jumping completely into the deep end of robotics AI.While I was not able to afford the incredibly fast Orin AGX line, I found this next step down (Jetson Orin NX 16G) was still a very fast and capable SOC computer for a lot less cost than the AGX. I wanted something that I could learn advanced AI techniques of coding but didn't want to have to mortgage a house to get one. This NX kit fit the bill very nicely! It's far faster than any of the last generation of Jetsons and puts Arduinos and Raspberry Pies to shame! The NX16G comes with 8 fast CPU cores. But the key to programming with these boards is to push the workload from the 8 CPUS down to the even faster1024 Ampere core GPUs. This board and CPU is capable of doing several tasks at once in AI processing at reasonable frame rates. You can have several apps open at once. You can analyze videos or live web cams for AI data or 3D depth cams or lidar sensors for instance. You can do a lot with these Orin SOCs that older series Jetson and other controllers just can't handle.If you get their best NX 16G kit, you'll also get an RGB case (Cube Nano) that looks like a tiny PC case. You'll get wifi and Gb Ethernet and 4 USB 3.0 ports and a USB C and a DP display port. The NX 16G kit also comes with a 2D web cam and cables and a 15.6" touch-screen and a wireless keyboard and mouse. You'll be using the provided 128G SSD for the Linux drive and boot partitions and it boots and runs faster than the old TF card method the lesser Jetsons use.Most of the hardware you would need to use this SOC board as a Linux computer and AI inference platform is included with the better NX 16G kit. If you have most of this stuff on-hand or can get it cheap somewhere local, you could get a simpler kit with less accessories. You do pay a premium for the accessories. But if you just want everything needed to get started, get the better kits.You may not get much from this kit without some prior Linux understanding. You are immediately thrown into the deep end of the Linux command line operations and little to no explanation of the 128G SSDs partitions or folders is included. You will be typing lots of unknown Linux and Python commands just to get this board and it's accessories running right. Learning to interpret Linux error messages is crucial. And where those programs are on the SSD drive or web sites isn't well documented. You also need to get from Yahboom or NVidia web sites several files, download them, unpack them, set them up in the Linux SSD. You need at least basic understanding of Linux syntax to use this kit. The info provided is not a beginners guide to Linux. They assume you have pre-knowledge of using Linux and somewhat Python too. I found that the tutorials would sometimes show the incorrect information using a Jetson Nano, not the Jetson NX I purchased. Also to this day, I have not got some of the included Linux and Python sample files to work right. This causes a good deal of frustration getting started with this kit. The SSD is preformatted and partially setup for Linux and Python when you install it. But the programs or samples are not yet setup to work till you unpack and set up several Linux things before hand. And the information on what you need to do first is not discussed in a step by step format but just literally scattered around in different places haphazardly. The beautiful desktop should not be played with much before the basic Linux and Python setup tasks are done. I would have thought that since Yahboom is providing everything including the SSD, they could have had all the software already setup and ready to use. I also find the tutorials less than informative and not able to understand the poor English in many cases. Also in the printed materials (tiny little unreadable booklets) you will see some web addresses to go to for more info and to setup software if you don't mind using a big magnifying glass to try to read them. Try to setup as much of the software as possible from the terminal command lines before changing things permanently on the nice looking screen. You will also be greeted right away when booting with a ton of software that needs updating in Linux. Think twice about allowing Linux to just upgrade everything it wants to as some of these robotics programs only like certain versions of Linux and Python.The hardware provided in this kit is certainly going to cost you the same or higher price if you need all the accessories. The SOC and developer boards are very expensive NVidia products and so the larger more complete kits can save you a little than if buying all the items separately. The accessories provided are not exactly high quality products. If you are serious about deep learning AI stuff, I wouldn't advise you get less than a Jetson Orin NX or AGX model. They have the serious horse power needed to do multiple analysis of sensors and video. The older Nanos and Xaviers and Pis and Arduinos have a hard time keeping up with multiple AI programs, while the NX and AGX boards just scream in speed. Of course if cost is of a major concern, you might not have much choice than to just dip your toes in the water of AI with an older Jetson Nano or Xavier board.I'm extremely pleased with the Jetson Orin NX 16G hardware for both speed and multitasking capability. I'm sure as I get deeper into AI learning, I will appreciate it's capabilities even more. The hardware accessories are however economy-minded products. I did find I was somewhat disappointed with the level of work to be done just to get this kit started up and running mainly due to the lack of software information and missing/broken hardware. True, if I was more experienced with Linux and Python, this might not have been so challenging. Don't expect this kit to teach you basic Linux skills. You will need that bit of experience to get started. You also don't want to try certain things without knowing what the consequences of running a command or script does. Linux can be vicious for newbys who don't take it slow and serious.I have dealt with Yahboom's technical support several times now with questions and for problem resolution and would give them an A rating for their efforts. They really do seem to want to help.The shipping & packaging was good and the kit I received didn't get damaged by the shipper. However, there were still some missing parts (video cable adapter and wireless mouse/keyboard receiver) and broken antenna cable parts in my kit. Those issues have been resolved by Yahboom.The little Nano Cube was somewhat difficult to get assembled with it's tiny instruction sheets. The video was better but still missed a few of the steps (like removing the developer board from it's plastic rim) as they showed installing a Nano not an NX. It's often so tight inside the Nano Cube case that you will have to remove a few parts to get to or install other parts. The screw holes on mine did not line up real well with the NX board or acrylic pieces. The antenna holes were not wide enough and filing them to be a bit larger was necessary. But after some frustration, the Nano Cube was assembled and then disassembled and reassembled several times to get it all right. It has an LED strip to light it up inside and an extremely tiny almost unreadable LED display. The case has two buttons...Power On/Off and reset.In summation, I like the development kit so far but was frustrated by it's hard to find and use instructions and a lack of pre-installation as it came. I also would have liked to know more about what and how the software was setup on the SSD and what features or programs were available and installed. I removed a star from the rating because of these frustrations that I still am running into. Otherwise it is a kit that is worth the cost paid and then some.