The Robo-PICA from INEX is a PIC16F877 microcontroller based Robot kit. It contains switches, geared motors, IR reflector, IR Objector, IR Remote, and parts to build a tracked robotic platform with line tracking capabilities.

It's programmable with PICBASIC Pro and requires a parallel port for programming. It does have a serial port interface for communicating. It also has 3 Servo ports available but none are supplied. With the onboard LCD this is a good base unit to build from.

The book has a little bad english (since it was translated), but it is easily readable.

Drawbacks:
  The kit comes with a few different tools but if you choose to use the demo version of PICBasic Pro you can only have up to 31 lines of code. To purchase full versions PRO or STD from Melabs it'll cost $249.95PRO/$99.95STD. We will be looking into offering the programs and will provide an update if and when accepted.

Some issues I ran into:
- When configuring the motors and line tracking, I failed to follow the order of the book and missed a couple of key steps.
- The tracks have some material left on them from seperating the kit, and if not taken off the tracks have a tendancy to come off the wheels.

I found a correction for the track issue. After taking the track off I looked at the drive wheel (the one attached to the motor) and noticed it was at a slight angle from the frame and the other wheels. I used a cardboard shim to raise the back end of the motor off the platform to straighten out the angle. It worked.