Waveshare Wave Rover with NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano

The Hardware

Basics

Waveshare Wave Rover
NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano 8GB
3x 18650 lithium batteries (Flat-top, high-current, and without integrated safety circuit)
- For example: Panasonic NCR18650GA 18650 Flat-top Li-ion 3.6 V 3300 mA

Must haves

SD Card UHS-1
JST Y-splitter cable
- For example (these combined):
  - XMSJSIY XH2.54 1 to 2 Pin XH2.54 Female to Dual Connector 2.54mm
  - JST XH 2.54mm Male Female Connector 2 Pin Male Female Connector Mini Micro JST XH 2.54mm 2 Pin with 80mm Cable Wire
DC Jack 5525 male
- For example: Delock Terminal Block Adapter DC 5.5mm x 2.5mm Male to 2 pin

Nice to have

These will make your life much easier:

Small monitor with display port (DP) cable (or use an adapter)
- For example (these combined):
  - DisplayPort to HDMI Adapter - 4K 60Hz - DP Male to HDMI Female - Compact
  - Denver Portable Monitor - Full HD - 15.6" - Portable Monitor - HDMI - USB-C - PMO15604
USB hub connected to keyboard and mouse

Assembling the rover

Installing batteries

Open the rover from below by removing the screws shown in the following image:

When the rover has been opened you can see the (Waveshare) 3S 18650 lithium battery UPS power module:

Please take note of the polarities before installing the 18650 batteries.

Once the batteries are installed, the UPS power supply will look like this:

Installing the Jetson Orin Nano onto the Wave Rover

Adapting the power supply for the Jetson Orin Nano

The Jetson Orin Nano needs 12V power supply. This voltage can only be supplied by one specific output connector on the 3S UPS power supply.

You'll need to disconnect the cable that powers the built-in multi-functional robot driver board (rover power cable), so that we can free up that power connector. This is shown in the image below.

Now we must create a custom JST y-splitter power cable such that we can supply both the Jetson Orin Nano and the built-in multi-functional robot driver board with 12V power.

Next, connect the custom JST y-splitter power cable to the free connector and also connect the rover power cable to the y-splitter power cable.

The result should look like this:

Re-assembling the Wave Rover

When re-assembling the rover, we may want to send the Jetson power cable out at the top of the rover.

This requires that the semi-transparent cover is removed first. For this, 6 screws need to be removed. Be careful when removing the screws around the OLED, as they are fastened with nuts on the other side of the chassis.

Attaching the Jetson Nano connector

Simply insert the special Jetson Nano connector (data cable) into lowest female pins of the 40-pin GPIO connector.

Here is the re-assembled rover without the semi-transparant cover and with the data cable installed:

Now connect the Jetson Orin Nano to the power cable and the data cable.

Before running the Jetson Orin Nano

Attach the monitor to the display port DP and connect your USB hub with keyboard and mouse to any USB port on the Jetson Orin Nano.

Useful links