How beginners can get Strutt ev¹'s companion mode working

A friend recommended Ruochuang's Strutt ev¹ to me — a thing that looks like a wheelchair but doesn't quite feel like one when you sit on it. He ordered his last month, and last week I went to the ground floor of his complex and tried it for an afternoon, to see whether it's actually easy to use. This post covers only one function: companion mode, where you don't sit on it and let it slowly walk alongside you by itself.

First, what this is. Ruochuang Technology was founded in 2023, and founder Hong Xiaoping previously ran the lidar line at DJI. The ev¹ had its debut at CES early this year, went on sale offline in China on August 29, and my friend grabbed one of the early-bird batch. Those black windows on the front are lidar — it measures distance by sending out light and catching the reflection, same principle as a bat, just using light instead of sound.

Starting from zero below.

1. Power on. Long-press the power button on the side of the body for about three seconds, the screen lights up, and you're in the main interface. The first time you need to pair with your phone: go to Settings → Connection, scan the code on the body. Seeing "Connected" means you're good.

2. Calibration. Push the vehicle to an open area downstairs, stand about two meters behind it, and tap Companion → Start calibration. It will slowly rotate in place once, with a progress bar on screen. Mine finished in a bit over a minute, and the result is that your standing position becomes a point marked on the map.

3. Set parameters. Follow distance was a bit over one meter from the factory, I'd suggest bumping it to 1.5 m first. Speed limit — pull it to the lowest first, loosen it once you're running smoothly.

4. Start running. Tap Start companion, walk forward, and it follows. The screen shows the distance between you two in real time.

5. Stop. Stand still first, exit companion mode, then power off. Don't do it the other way around.

Three pitfalls.

Calibration must be done in an open area. Glass curtain walls, reflective floor tiles, and direct sunlight all make it see double. My first attempt at the underground garage entrance failed twice; only after switching to a concrete open lot did it pass.

Setting the follow distance too short causes frequent hard stops, especially when you walk fast — it lurches, and to bystanders it looks broken.

Power-off order. For things with motors and batteries like this, the manuals are never detailed. I'm in the habit of exiting the program first, then cutting power — I wouldn't dare just yank it. I've stepped in this pit on other devices and wrote a post about it, won't expand here.

Mode	When to use	From my testing
Manual	Narrow paths, entering elevators	Most stable, but your hands are never free
Assist	Long straight stretches	Saves effort, pushes responsively
Companion	When you want to walk hands-free in a complex or mall	Fun, but picky about ground and lighting

What works: first, companion mode really does keep up — it's not the stop-and-go demo level; second, the chassis is stable, so riding over speed bumps isn't uncomfortable; third, it supports OTA updates, so the features aren't a one-time deal. What doesn't work, also three: it's picky about environment — if the ground is a bit dirty, calibration gets painful; the default speed and distance values are on the conservative side and you have to tune them yourself; and the price and later maintenance my friend didn't explain clearly to me either — I only borrowed it for an afternoon, so I won't draw conclusions for him.

One-sentence judgment: as a daily commuting tool it's usable, provided the route you usually take is clean enough.