6. Programming Your 3pi

To do more with your 3pi than explore the demo program or use it as a serial slave to a master device, you will need to program it, which requires a computer and an external AVR ISP programmer like our USB AVR programmer v2.1. Your programmer’s user’s guide should have all the information you need to get started programming AVRs like the one on the 3pi. If you are using our USB AVR Programmer v2 or v2.1, you can find it’s user’s guide here. You might also check out our original Pololu AVR Programming Quick Start Guide for tutorials on how to get started programming your 3pi in Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X, but it was written for our older USB AVR Programmer, and much of it is now out of date.

Warning: Do not attempt to program your 3pi if its batteries are drained or uncharged (make sure you charge any new rechargeable batteries fully before you first use them). Losing power during programming could permanently disable your 3pi.