3pi+ 2040 Robot Kit with 15:1 HPCB Motors (Hyper Edition Kit)

The 3pi+ 2040 is a versatile, high-performance, user-programmable robot that measures just 9.7 cm (3.8") in diameter. At its heart is a Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller (like the one on the Raspberry Pi Pico), a 32-bit dual-core Arm Cortex-M0+ processor running at 125 MHz, which can be programmed with C, C++, Arduino, or Python. The 3pi+ 2040 has 16 MB (128 Mbit) of flash memory that ships preloaded with a MicroPython interpreter, so you can get started right away by plugging into its USB C port and editing the included example Python programs. 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.

3pi+ 2040 Robot, front view.

3pi+ 2040 Robot, side view.

3pi+ 2040 Robot, rear view.

The 3pi+ (or 3??+) 2040 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 six RGB 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.

The 3pi+ 2040 robot is available as a kit or fully assembled:

For those who would prefer to use different motors than these versions above, the 3pi+ chassis and 3pi+ 2040 control board are available separately and can be combined with a pair of motors to make a custom kit.

What else you will need

• four AAA batteries: the 3pi+ robot works with both alkaline and NiMH batteries, though Pololu recommend rechargeable NiMH cells
• a USB C cable to connect the robot to your computer for programming and debugging

Assembling the kit version

The following video shows the steps to assemble a different version of the 3pi+ robot (the 3pi+ 32U4 OLED robot), but these steps generally remain the same for the 3pi+ 2040:

Details for item #5003

This product is the kit version of the Hyper Edition of the 3pi+ 2040 Robot. Assembly (including soldering) is required. This edition is very difficult to control and fast enough to damage itself from impacts, so it is only recommended for advanced users. Pololu 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 (note that this video was made for an older version of the 3pi+ robot, but the mechanical instructions for replacing the gearbox still apply to this newer 2040 version).

3pi+ 2040 Robot Kit (Hyper Edition).

This kit includes:

• 3pi+ Chassis Kit
• 3pi+ 2040 Control Board
• two 15:1 HPCB 6V Micro Metal Gearmotors with extended motor shafts
• one graphical OLED display with black PCB
• one spare 15:1 gearbox

A pre-assembled version of this kit is also available.

Dimensions

General specifications

Identifying markings

Notes:

1

Of assembled robot without batteries.

Documentation and other information

• 

  Pololu 3pi+ 2040 User’s Guide

  User’s manual for the Pololu 3pi+ 2040 robot.

File downloads

• Schematic diagram of the 3pi+ 2040 Control Board (305k pdf)

• Pinout and power distribution diagrams of the 3pi+ 2040 Control Board (1MB pdf)

• Dimension diagram of the 3pi+ 2040 Robot (2MB pdf)

• Dimension diagram of the 3pi+ 2040 Control Board (2MB pdf)

• 3D models of the 3pi+ 2040 Robot (18MB zip)

  This file contains 3D models (in the STEP file format) of the 3pi+ 2040 Robot. These models use a simplified model of the control electronics to reduce the file size. A more detailed model of the 3pi+ 2040 Control Board (27MB step) is available separately.

• 3D models of the 3pi+ Chassis Kit (13MB zip)

  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.

• 3D model of the 3pi+ 2040 Control Board (27MB step)

• Front, top, and side views of the 3pi+ 2040 Robot (420k zip)

  These DXF drawings make it possible to get various dimension measurements of the 3pi+ 2040 Robot.

• Drill guide for the 3pi+ 2040 Control Board (65k dxf)

  This DXF drawing shows the locations of all of the board’s holes.

Recommended links

• 3pi+ 2040 Robot Libraries and Example Code

  This repository contains libraries and example code for the Pololu 3pi+ 2040 Robot in MicroPython and C.