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Pololu item #:
4974
Brand:
Pololu
Status:
Active and Preferred
The Pololu 3pi+ 32U4 OLED robot is a high-performance mobile platform based on the Arduino-compatible ATmega32U4 MCU. Its many features include dual quadrature encoders for closed-loop speed or position control, line sensors, front bump sensors, a full IMU, and a graphical OLED display, all packed into a robot that fits in the palm of your hand. This Hyper Edition version is assembled with high-speed 15:1 HPCB 6V Micro Metal Gearmotors.
NOTE: This version is difficult to control and fast enough to damage itself from impacts, so it is only recommended for advanced users. A spare 15:1 gearbox is included.
Alternatives available with variations in these parameter(s): version assembled Select variant…
Compare all products in 3pi+ 32U4 OLED Robot or Robot Kits without Soldering.
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3pi+ 32U4 OLED Robot. |
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3pi+ 32U4 OLED Robot, rear view. |
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3pi+ 32U4 OLED Robot fits in the palm of a hand. |
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3pi+ 32U4 OLED Robot features. |
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3pi+ 32U4 OLED Robot, front view. |
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3pi+ 32U4 OLED Robot, side view. |
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3pi+ 32U4 OLED Robot, rear view. |
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3pi+ 32U4 OLED Robot, top view. |
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3pi+ 32U4 OLED Robot, top view with OLED display removed. |
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3pi+ 32U4 OLED Robot, bottom view. |
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The 3pi+ 32U4 OLED Robot is powered by four AAA batteries (not included). |
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3pi+ 32U4 OLED Robot, bottom view with battery compartment covers removed. |
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3pi+ 32U4 OLED Robot, bottom view. |
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3pi+ 32U4 OLED Robot, bottom view with batteries installed (batteries not included). |
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3pi+ 32U4 OLED Robot, bottom view showing the insides of the battery compartments. |
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The 3pi+ 32U4 OLED is a versatile, high-performance, user-programmable robot that measures just 9.7 cm (3.8″) in diameter. At its heart is an ATmega32U4 AVR microcontroller from Microchip (formerly Atmel), and like our 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 we 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 0.1″-pitch expansion ports.
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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 a 128×64 graphical OLED display, buzzer, and indicator LEDs allow the robot to provide feedback.
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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.
The 3pi+ 32U4 OLED robot is available as a kit or fully assembled with three different motor options:
| 3pi+ 32U4 OLED Version | Products | Micro Metal Gearmotor | Top Speed | Comments |
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| Standard Edition | assembled or kit | 30:1 MP 6V | 1.5 m/s | good combination of speed and controllability |
| Turtle Edition | assembled or kit | 75:1 LP 6V | 0.4 m/s | longest battery life, easiest to control, good for swarm robots or introductory robotics courses |
| Hyper Edition | assembled or kit | 15:1 HPCB 6V | ~4 m/s | very fast and difficult to control, easy to damage; only recommended for advanced users |
For those who would prefer to use different motors than these versions above, the 3pi+ chassis and 3pi+ 32U4 OLED control board are available separately and can be combined with a pair of motors to make a custom kit.
March 2024 update: We are transitioning the OLED displays from units with blue PCBs to functionally identical versions with black PCBs. Some of the pictures and videos on our website still show the original blue displays.
This product is the assembled Hyper Edition of the 3pi+ 32U4 OLED Robot. It is very difficult to control and fast enough to damage itself from impacts, so it is only recommended for advanced users. We strongly recommend keeping motor speeds below 50% on this version. A spare gearbox is included with this edition and instructions for installing it can be found here.
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This is a newer 3pi+ 32U4 OLED Robot with a graphical OLED display. For its original version counterpart with an LCD, see the 3pi+ 32U4 Robot – Hyper Edition (15:1 HPCB Motors), Assembled.
The original version of the 3pi+ 32U4 includes an 8×2 character LCD, while this newer 3pi+ 32U4 OLED incorporates a graphical OLED display instead. The name “3pi+ 32U4” can generally be used to refer to both the original (LCD) and OLED versions, and the documentation in our updated user’s guide covers both versions.
Our Arduino library for the 3pi+ 32U4 generally allows code written for the LCD version to work on the OLED version with minimal changes (and the reverse is also true as long as your code does not make use of the OLED’s graphical capabilities).
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Original Pololu 3pi robot. |
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The 3pi+ 32U4 OLED offers many major improvements over the original 3pi, including:
The 3pi+ 32U4 uses a different microcontroller with different pin mappings compared to the older 3pi, and some of the software library interfaces are different, so programs written for the original 3pi will not work on the 3pi+ 32U4 without modification.
| Size: | 97L × 96W × 36H mm |
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| Weight: | 100 g1 |
| Processor: | ATmega32U4 @ 16 MHz |
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| RAM size: | 2560 bytes |
| Program memory size: | 32 Kbytes2 |
| External programmer required?: | N |
| Assembled: | Y |
| Version: | Hyper Edition (15:1 HPCB Motors) |
| PCB dev codes: | 3pi03b |
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| Other PCB markings: | 0J13485 |
User’s manual for the Pololu 3pi+ 32U4 robot.
This download contains the Windows drivers for the A-Star 32U4 and the rest of our 32U4 family of boards.
These models use a simplified model of the control electronics to reduce the file size. A more detailed model of the 3pi-plus-32u4-oled-control-board (30MB step) is available separately.
This file contains 3D models (in the STEP file format) of the 3pi+ Chassis Kit. Note that the models include micro metal gearmotors that are sold separately from the chassis.
These DXF drawings make it possible to get various dimension measurements of the 3pi+ 32U4 OLED Robot.
Arduino integrated development environment (IDE) software
This repository contains Arduino add-on files, Windows drivers, and bootloaders for the A-Star 328PB, A-Star 32U4, and the rest of our 32U4 family of boards.
Microchip’s product page for the ATmega32U4 AVR microcontroller, with links to its datasheet, application notes, and other resources.
No FAQs available.
This video steps through the demo program on our new 3pi+ 32U4 OLED Robot. The Pololu 3pi+ 32U4 OLED robot is a complete, high-performance mobile...
We are very excited to announce that the 3pi+ 32U4 OLED Robot is now available! This is an updated version of the original 3pi+ 32U4 Robot that...
