Description

Pololu 3Pi+ 32u4 Robot - Turtle Edition

The 3pi+ 32U4 is a versatile, high-performance, user-programmable robot that measures just 9.7cm in diameter. At its heart is an ATmega32U4 AVR microcontroller from Microchip (formerly Atmel), and like Pololu's A-Star 32U4 programmable controllers, the 3Pi+ 32U4 features a USB interface and ships preloaded with an Arduino-compatible bootloader, so all you need to program it is a USB A to Micro-B cable (not included). A software add-on is available that makes it easy to program the robot from the Arduino environment, and Pololu have Arduino libraries and example sketches to help get you started. For advanced users who want to customize or enhance their robots with additional peripherals, the robot’s power rails, power system controls, and microcontroller’s I/O lines can be accessed via several 2.54mm pitch expansion ports.

3737-001

The 3pi+ (or 3π+) features two H-bridge motor drivers and a variety of integrated sensors, including a pair of quadrature encoders for closed-loop motor control, a complete inertial measurement unit (3-axis accelerometer, gyro, and magnetometer), five downward-facing reflectance sensors for line-following or edge-detection, and left and right bump sensors along the front face of the robot. Three on-board pushbuttons offer a convenient interface for user input, and an LCD, buzzer, and indicator LEDs allow the robot to provide feedback. The robot also features a unique power system that runs the motors at a constant 8 V independent of the battery charge level, so the speed of the motors does not vary with the battery voltage.