The Pololu 3pi robot is a complete, high-performance mobile platform featuring two micro metal gearmotors, five reflectance sensors, an 8×2 character LCD, a buzzer, and three user pushbuttons, all connected to a C-programmable ATmega328 microcontroller. Capable of speeds exceeding 3 feet per second, 3pi is a great first robot for ambitious beginners and a perfect second robot for those looking to move up from non-programmable or slower beginner robots.

The Pololu 3pi robot is a small (9.5 cm/3.7" diameter, 83 g/2.9 oz without batteries), high-performance, autonomous robot, designed to excel in line following and maze-solving competitions. Powered by four AAA batteries (not included) and a unique power system that runs the motors at a constant 9.25 V, 3pi is capable of speeds up to 100 cm/second while making precise turns and spins that don’t vary with the battery voltage.

The 3pi robot is designed to excel in line-following and maze-solving competitions. It has a small size (9.5 cm/3.7" diameter, 83 g/2.9 oz without batteries) and takes just four AAA cells (not included), while a unique power system runs the motors at a constant 9.25 V independent of the battery charge level. The regulated voltage allows the 3pi to reach speeds up to 100 cm/second while making precise turns and spins that don’t vary with the battery voltage.

The 3pi robot makes a great platform for people with C programming experience to learn robotics, and it is a fun environment for ambitious beginners to learn C programming. At its heart is an ATmega328P AVR microcontroller from Microchip (formerly Atmel) running at 20 MHz and featuring 32 KB of flash program memory, 2 KB RAM, and 1 KB of persistent EEPROM memory. The popular, free GNU C/C++ compiler works perfectly with the 3pi, Atmel Studio provides a comfortable development environment, and an extensive set of libraries provided by Pololu makes it a breeze to interface with all of the integrated hardware. The 3pi is also compatible with the popular Arduino development platform. We provide a number of sample programs to show how to use the various 3pi components, as well as how to perform more complex behaviors such as line following and maze solving.

This amazing product has been upgraded - check out the new version 3pi+32u4 OLED

Note that an external AVR ISP programmer such as the Orangutan USB programmer is required to program the 3pi. 

3pi Introduction Video

3pi Maze Solving