We recently added six new low-power variants to our Motoron line of basic serial motor controllers: four Mxx550 1- and 2-channel versions, as well as 3-channel versions for Arduino (M3S550) and Raspberry Pi (M3H550).

1- and 2-channel micro motor drivers

The new M1T550, M1U550, M2T550, and M2U550 are single- and dual-channel serial motor controllers in a micro footprint. With a maximum motor supply voltage of 22 V, the Mxx550 versions are a great way to control small motors powered by power supplies up to 12 V and battery packs up to 12 cells in series for alkaline, NiCd, and NiMH, or up to 4 cells in series for LiPo. These are lower-voltage, pin-compatible versions of the Mxx256 models we released earlier this year, which have a maximum motor voltage of 48 V and can deliver slightly more current but are otherwise almost identical.

Here is the full array of tiny Motoron options, including I²C and UART serial interface versions:

Motoron motor controllers micro versions
	M1T550 M1U550	M2T550 M2U550	M1T256 M1U256	M2T256 M2U256
Control interface:	I²C or UART serial
Motor channels:	1 (single)	2 (dual)	1 (single)	2 (dual)
Minimum motor supply voltage:	1.8 V		4.5 V
Absolute max motor supply voltage:	22 V		48 V
Recommended max nominal battery voltage:	16 V		36 V
Max continuous current per channel:	1.8 A	1.6 A	2.2 A	1.8 A
Available versions with I²C:	headers soldered headers included	headers soldered headers included	headers soldered headers included	headers soldered headers included
Available verions with UART serial:	headers soldered headers included	headers soldered headers included	headers soldered headers included	headers soldered headers included
Price:	$12.49 – $14.49	$15.95 – $17.95	$16.95 – $18.95	$23.95 – $25.95

3-channel motor drivers for Arduino and Raspberry Pi

We also released larger (but still small!), 3-channel versions in Arduino (M3S550) and Raspberry Pi (M3H550) compatible form factors. These again have a maximum motor supply voltage of 22 V and correspond to the 48 V max M3S256 and M3H256 versions we released in 2022. Here is the full line of larger Motoron serial motor controllers, including the even higher-power, dual-channel Motorons in full-size Arduino Shield or Raspberry Pi Hat form factors:

Motoron motor controllers Arduino and Raspberry Pi form factor versions
	M3S550 M3H550	M3S256 M3H256	M2S24v14 M2H24v14	M2S24v16 M2H24v16	M2S18v18 M2H18v18	M2S18v20 M2H18v20
Control interface:	I²C
Motor channels:	3 (triple)		2 (dual)
Minimum motor supply voltage:	1.8 V	4.5 V	6.5 V
Absolute max motor supply voltage:	22 V	48 V	40 V		30 V
Recommended max nominal battery voltage:	16 V	36 V	28 V		18 V
Max continuous current per channel:	1.7 A	2 A	14 A	16 A	18 A	20 A
Available versions for Arduino:	M3S550 assembled kit board only	M3S256 assembled kit board only	M2S24v14 assembled kit board only	M2S24v16 assembled kit board only	M2S18v18 assembled kit board only	M2S18v20 assembled kit board only
Available versions for Raspberry Pi:	M3H550 assembled kit board only	M3H256 assembled kit board only	M2H24v14 assembled kit board only	M2H24v16 assembled kit board only	M2H18v18 assembled kit board only	M2H18v20 assembled kit board only
Price:	$20.95 – $30.95	$34.95 – $44.95	$59.95 – $69.95	$115.95 – $124.95	$59.95 – $69.96	$95.95 – $104.95

The great thing about the Motorons is that you can easily string together or stack multiple controllers, mixing and matching sizes to fit your application. For example, you could use one high-power dual motor version for drive motors on a mobile robot and then add a smaller 3-channel motor controller for additional actuators. This arrangement with three stacked Motorons on an Arduino Uno allows simple control of up to 9 motors:

The common protocol between versions also makes it easy to change motor sizes and to reuse your code between projects. Want to make a bigger version of your first prototype? Just use a higher-power Motoron! Want to make a tiny robot next time? Use a tiny Motoron! Want to… you get the idea.

While the 3-channel boards are designed to stack on Arduinos or Raspberry Pis, they are also easy to use on breadboards:

It may be easy to view the six new Mxx550 Motorons as just lower-voltage versions of the previously available Mxx256 Motorons, but I am especially excited about them because we are able to offer them at a very low price, extending the legacy of the Dual Serial Motor controllers that were among our first products over 20 years ago. We are launching the 2-channel M2T550 and M2U550 at just $15.95, a lower price than the original Dual Serial Motor controller from 2001 (without even adjusting for inflation!).

The chip shortages of the past several years have made it especially difficult to introduce new products and to keep their prices down, but things are finally seeming to get better on that front. You can see in the tables above that the higher-power 2-channel Motorons are much more expensive; those prices are still elevated because we are limited on some critical components we use there and in our other products. We should be able to manufacture plenty of the new Motorons without being constrained in a similar way.

Related products

	Motoron M3S550 Triple Motor Controller Shield for Arduino (Connectors Soldered)
	Motoron M3S550 Triple Motor Controller Shield Kit for Arduino
	Motoron M3S550 Triple Motor Controller Shield for Arduino (No Connectors)
	Motoron M3H550 Triple Motor Controller for Raspberry Pi (Connectors Soldered)
	Motoron M3H550 Triple Motor Controller Kit for Raspberry Pi
	Motoron M3H550 Triple Motor Controller for Raspberry Pi (No Connectors or Standoffs)
	Motoron M2T550 Dual I²C Motor Controller (Header Pins Soldered)
	Motoron M2T550 Dual I²C Motor Controller
	Motoron M2U550 Dual Serial Motor Controller (Header Pins Soldered)
	Motoron M2U550 Dual Serial Motor Controller
	Motoron M1T550 Single I²C Motor Controller (Header Pins Soldered)
	Motoron M1T550 Single I²C Motor Controller
	Motoron M1U550 Single Serial Motor Controller (Header Pins Soldered)
	Motoron M1U550 Single Serial Motor Controller

We have expanded our S13VxFx family of step-up/step-down voltage regulators to include options with a variety of output voltages from 3.3 V to 15 V. Like the original 5 V members of the family, these new S13V25Fx units take an input voltage from 2.8 V to 22 V and efficiently increase it or decrease it as necessary to produce the regulated output voltage. Even with their compact 0.9″ × 0.9″ size, they can deliver typical continuous output currents between 1 A and 3 A, making them our most powerful buck-boost converters. (That’s almost half the size of our previously highest-power step-up/step-down units, the S18V20Fx family, which are still being impacted by the global semiconductor shortages.) The graphs below show a more complete picture of the kinds of currents you can expect for different combinations of input and output voltages:

These new S13V25Fx versions do not include a 5V option because we already have that in the S13V30F5. They are pin-compatible with that 5V module and have the same overall board dimensions, but please note that the tall components (i.e. electrolytic capacitors and inductor) are in different locations. Here is a comparison of the new S13V25Fx regulators (left) next to the S13V30F5 (right):

Step-Up/Step-Down Voltage Regulator S13V25Fx, top view with labeled pinout.

5V, 3A Step-Up/Step-Down Voltage Regulator S13V30F5, top view with labeled pinout.

This table shows what the full family looks like now:

As a reminder, we manufacture these boards in-house at our Las Vegas facility, so we have the flexibility to make these regulators with custom fixed output voltages. If the voltage you need is not one of our standard options and you are interested in customization, please contact us.

Related products

	3.3V, 2.5A Step-Up/Step-Down Voltage Regulator S13V25F3
	6V, 2.5A Step-Up/Step-Down Voltage Regulator S13V25F6
	7.5V, 2.5A Step-Up/Step-Down Voltage Regulator S13V25F7
	9V, 2.5A Step-Up/Step-Down Voltage Regulator S13V25F9
	12V, 2.5A Step-Up/Step-Down Voltage Regulator S13V25F12
	15V, 2.5A Step-Up/Step-Down Voltage Regulator S13V25F15
	5V, 3A Step-Up/Step-Down Voltage Regulator S13V30F5
	5V, 2A Step-Up/Step-Down Voltage Regulator S13V20F5
	5V, 1.5A Step-Up/Step-Down Voltage Regulator S13V15F5
	5V, 1A Step-Up/Step-Down Voltage Regulator S13V10F5

We have transitioned from our initial early-adopter release to a full release of the 3pi+ 2040 Robot family! With the full release, we also have some additional motor options. Here’s the full lineup:

The Turtle Edition is a great choice for educational environments or anyplace else where slow, controlled speed is important. On the flip side, the Hyper Edition uses high-power motors with a low-gear-ratio gearbox to offer a LOT of speed, but this also means reduced control and a higher risk of the robot damaging itself, so we only recommend it for advanced users who want to push the limits of what this robot platform can do. We also make the 3pi+ 2040 control board and 3pi+ chassis available separately for those who would like to do something custom with one of our many other Micro Metal Gearmotor options.

To recap from our early adopter release announcement, this robot combines our 3pi+ chassis with the power of the Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller, and it’s full of cool features:

We have a comprehensive set of example Python programs to help get you started using all of these features, and we expect to continue adding more over time. Let us know if there’s something in particular you would want to see that is not already covered!

MicroPython drive showing 3pi+ 2040 demo programs.

The blink.py demo program in a text editor.

Related products

	3pi+ 2040 Robot - Standard Edition (30:1 MP Motors), Assembled
	3pi+ 2040 Robot - Turtle Edition (75:1 LP Motors), Assembled
	3pi+ 2040 Robot - Hyper Edition (15:1 HPCB Motors), Assembled
	3pi+ 2040 Robot Kit with 30:1 MP Motors (Standard Edition Kit)
	3pi+ 2040 Robot Kit with 75:1 LP Motors (Turtle Edition Kit)
	3pi+ 2040 Robot Kit with 15:1 HPCB Motors (Hyper Edition Kit)
	3pi+ 2040 Control Board
	3pi+ Chassis Kit (No Motors or Electronics)

We’re now selling the LC20031-V2 GNSS receiver module from LOCOSYS. This module integrates a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receiver with an on-board antenna, making it a complete solution for providing satellite-based position data (a “smart antenna”).

The LC20031-V2 outputs data at up to 10 Hz as NMEA sentences on a TTL-level serial port, or UART, and the module ships with a cable assembly that you can use to connect it to your project (either with a matching receptacle or by cutting off the connector to access the individual wire leads). A built-in rechargeable battery preserves system data while the module is inactive for rapid satellite acquisition on the next start-up.

Unlike GPS-only receivers such as the LS20031, the LC20031-V2 works with many different satellite systems. GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, Galileo, and QZSS satellite signals are all supported, and the module can receive both L1 and L5 frequency band signals on up to 135 channels. This lets it achieve a typical position accuracy of 1.5 m CEP (circular error probable).

The GNSS Firebird software provided by LOCOSYS can be used to configure the LC20031-V2 and view its output. In this screenshot, you can easily see the different satellite systems that the receiver is tracking, represented by the different colors in the displays (GPS is blue, GLONASS is orange, Galileo is green, and BeiDou is red).

GNSS Firebird application showing data from an LC20031-V2 module inside Pololu’s offices.

Related products

LOCOSYS LC20031-V2 135-Channel Dual-Band GNSS Receiver Module

I am super excited to introduce our newest robot, the 3pi+ 2040. This robot combines the 3pi+ chassis, which we initially released in late 2020, with the power of the Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller. Here is a quick overview of its features:

This summer will mark 15 years since we released our original 3pi robot, which was designed to be fast enough to be competitive in line following and maze solving events. The high speed offers interesting programming challenges not present in typical robot kits of that era; here is a video from back then in which Ben demonstrates his 3pi learning a maze and then going extra fast on longer straightaways:

Although we developed our first injection-molded parts (wheels, ball caster, and motor mounting brackets) for that design, it was still largely a “PCB on wheels” kind of robot. The next-generation 3pi+, with a chassis mechanically independent of any circuit board, had been in development for several years when the coronavirus pandemic hit in early 2020. We kept working on it throughout that year, culminating with the November release of the 3pi+ 32U4.

Original Pololu 3pi robot.

3pi+ 32U4 Robot.

The 3pi+ delivered the most-requested feature missing from the 3pi, wheel encoders, along with many other improvements including a full IMU, bumpers, and programmability over USB (the 3pi required an external AVR programmer). With its support in the Arduino environment, the ATmega32U4 continues to offer a good entry point for working with microcontrollers, but the 8-bit architecture and 32 KB of program memory feel increasingly outdated and constraining, especially with the new sensors available on the 3pi+.

That brings us to the new 3pi+ 2040, powered by the Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller (32-bit dual-core Arm Cortex-M0+) with 16 MB (128 Mbit) of flash memory. The robot 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 with your favorite text editor. No special programmers or programming software are required, and you can write MicroPython code from practically any desktop or mobile operating system as long as it has a text editor and the ability to copy files to a USB drive. For a basic Python IDE that lets you run code interactively, we are recommending the Mu editor. (See the User’s Guide for instructions on setting it up.)

MicroPython drive showing 3pi+ 2040 demo programs.

The blink.py demo program in a text editor.

There are many other programming environments and languages that you can use with the 3pi+. Since it shares the same RP2040 processor as the Raspberry Pi Pico, anything that works for the Pico should be usable on the 3pi+, including C, C++, and the Arduino environment. We already include some basic C examples in our example code repository, and we plan to write more examples and expand the software support for this robot. Do you have a favorite IDE that works with the Pico? Is there some language or system you’d like to run on the 3pi+?

The menu of pre-installed demo programs on the 3pi+ 2040 Robot.

Early adopter special: We are initially offering the 3pi+ 2040 Robot as a limited release intended for advanced customers who have had some experience with robotics or Raspberry Pi RP2040 programming (e.g. with a Raspberry Pi Pico). The initial release is available with 30:1 MP motors (the “Standard Edition”), either assembled for 38% off or in kit form for 50% off. Early adopter robots will generally need to be backordered as they are built to order; we expect to ship within a business day of ordering. The robot hardware is finalized so the only changes we expect for the full product release are in the initial firmware configuration and pre-installed example programs. Documentation will also continue to be developed as we release the robot to a wider customer base. Early adopters who publicly share their 3pi+ 2040 experiences will be eligible for an additional robot with an extra $25 discount.

Related products

	3pi+ 2040 Robot - Standard Edition (30:1 MP Motors), Assembled
	3pi+ 2040 Robot Kit with 30:1 MP Motors (Standard Edition Kit)
	Pololu 3pi Robot

The Motoron family keeps growing! We’re happy to announce the release of the Motoron M2T256 Dual I²C Motor Controller and the Motoron M2U256 Dual Serial Motor Controller. Unlike previous Motoron controllers, these boards are “micro” versions that fit the ability to drive two motors (at up to 48 V and 1.8 A) into a minimal, compact form factor. They have the same ability to be individually addressed as the other Motorons, allowing many of them to be controlled independently while connected to the same bus.

A Raspberry Pi Pico on a breadboard using a Motoron M2T256/M2U256 Dual Motor Controller to control two motors.

The M2T256 is controlled via I²C like all of our previous Motorons, but unlike all the others, the M2U256 offers logic-level serial (UART) communication to provide an alternative option for applications where an asynchronous serial interface is preferred. The M2U256 supports the Pololu serial protocol, letting it share a serial line with our other compatible serial controllers (including brushed motor controllers, stepper motor controllers, and servo controllers). Its firmware also includes some options that can help you use it on an RS-485 network (requires addition of external transceivers).

The M2T256 and M2U256 both measure only 0.6″ × 0.8″ and have nearly the same pinout; in fact, both of these Motoron versions use the same printed circuit board with only minor differences in components. (For example, a resonator is only present on the M2U256 because it needs more accurate timing for asynchronous serial communication.) Both versions are available either with header pins soldered in or with headers included but not soldered.

Motoron M2T256 Dual I²C Motor Controller, bottom view.

Motoron M2U256 Dual Serial Motor Controller, bottom view.

The Motoron M2U256 is the latest in a succession of compact motor controllers we’ve produced over the years that use an asynchronous serial (UART) protocol, beginning with one of our very first products, the Pololu Dual Serial Motor Controller. Using this interface made a lot of sense in the past because it was one of the most straightforward ways to communicate with devices using higher-level commands. However, some of the most popular embedded platforms today make it difficult: many Arduino boards use the UART for serial programming, which can conflict with other connected devices, and a Raspberry Pi can output bootloader messages over serial or unexpectedly scale its UART frequency along with its CPU speed.

Meanwhile, I²C has become more popular and easier to use on microcontrollers over time, and it has features like open-drain lines and built-in support for addressing that simplify working with several devices on a single bus. This was the reason for the Motoron family’s initial focus on I²C, which was a departure from our tradition of making serial motor controllers, but the M2U256 reflects our thinking that there are still some reasons to use asynchronous serial. For example, it’s still easier to connect a PC to a serial device (with a USB or RS-232 adapter) than to an I²C device. We expect to make more UART Motorons in the future, too.

Pololu Dual Serial Motor Controller.

Pololu Micro Dual Serial Motor Controller

Pololu qik 2s9v1 dual serial motor controller.

Here is our full lineup of Motoron controllers to date, encompassing both the new “micro” boards and the previously-released expansion boards for Arduino and Raspberry Pi:

Motoron motor controllers micro versions
	M2T256	M2U256
Control interface:	I²C	UART serial
Motor channels:	2 (dual)
Absolute max input voltage:	48 V
Recommended max nominal battery voltage:	36 V
Max continuous current per channel:	1.8 A
Available versions:	headers soldered headers included	headers soldered headers included

Motoron motor controllers Arduino and Raspberry Pi form factor versions
	M3S256 M3H256	M2S24v14 M2H24v14	M2S24v16 M2H24v16	M2S18v18 M2H18v18	M2S18v20 M2H18v20
Control interface:	I²C
Motor channels:	3 (triple)	2 (dual)
Absolute max input voltage:	48 V	40 V		30 V
Recommended max nominal battery voltage:	36 V	28 V		18 V
Max continuous current per channel:	2 A	14 A	16 A	18 A	20 A
Available versions for Arduino:	M3S256 assembled kit board only	M2S24v14 assembled kit board only	M2S24v16 assembled kit board only	M2S18v18 assembled kit board only	M2S18v20 assembled kit board only
Available versions for Raspberry Pi:	M3H256 assembled kit board only	M2H24v14 assembled kit board only	M2H24v16 assembled kit board only	M2H18v18 assembled kit board only	M2H18v20 assembled kit board only

Related products

	Motoron M2T256 Dual I²C Motor Controller (Header Pins Soldered)
	Motoron M2T256 Dual I²C Motor Controller
	Motoron M2U256 Dual Serial Motor Controller (Header Pins Soldered)
	Motoron M2U256 Dual Serial Motor Controller

We are excited to introduce our new compact and efficient U3V16Fx family of boost voltage regulators, which can generate higher voltages from input voltages as low as 1.3 V (the minimum startup voltage is 2.7 V, but they will operate down to 1.3 V after that). It’s awesome how much power these deliver in such a tiny package! It’s a little difficult to quickly convey the power or current capabilities of boost converters, since the output power is limited by the input current (which can be up to 2 A with this new family), but we usually care about the output current, which is inversely proportional to the ratio by which you are boosting the voltage. For instance, if you are tripling your voltage from 3 V to 9 V, the maximum possible output current would be one third of that 2 A maximum input (assuming 100% efficiency). Continuous currents will be a little lower than peaks, and once you factor in real world efficiency (typically 80-95%), you can expect these kinds of maximum currents:

Efficiency is also a bit hard to capture without a ton of graphs, but here’s an example from the 12 V version:

Typical efficiency of 12V Step-Up Voltage Regulator U3V16F12.

The U3V16x family includes seven versions with fixed output voltages ranging from 3.3 V to 15 V:

• U3V16F3: Fixed 3.3V output
• U3V16F5: Fixed 5V output
• U3V16F6: Fixed 6V output
• U3V16F7: Fixed 7.5V output
• U3V16F9: Fixed 9V output
• U3V16F12: Fixed 12V output
• U3V16F15: Fixed 15V output

These new regulators are the same size as the popular U3V12Fx boost regulators, which we had to discontinue due to key components becoming obsolete, and they offer superior performance, so they should work as drop-in replacements for those older regulators in most applications.

Related products

	3.3V Step-Up Voltage Regulator U3V16F3
	5V Step-Up Voltage Regulator U3V16F5
	6V Step-Up Voltage Regulator U3V16F6
	7.5V Step-Up Voltage Regulator U3V16F7
	9V Step-Up Voltage Regulator U3V16F9
	12V Step-Up Voltage Regulator U3V16F12
	15V Step-Up Voltage Regulator U3V16F15

Our selection of compact stepper motor driver carriers is expanding with the addition of three new boards based on the DRV8434A and DRV8434S from Texas Instruments. They feature stall detection, adjustable current limiting, over-current and over-temperature protection, and 11 microstep resolutions (down to 1/256-step). They operate from 4.5 V to 48 V and can deliver approximately 1.2 A continuous per phase without a heat sink (up to 2 A peak). The DRV8434A version uses a standard GPIO interface for configuring microstepping and stall detection and a potentiometer for setting the current limit, while the DRV8434S versions use SPI to configure microstepping, stall detection, decay modes, and the effective current limit.

Two DRV8434S carrier versions are available, one with a potentiometer for adjusting the maximum current limit and one with the maximum current limit fixed at 2 A; on both of these, the actual current limit can be scaled down to some percentage of the set maximum through SPI. There are 16 evenly spaced scale settings available, which corresponds to increments of 125 mA on the version with the fixed 2 A maximum. For lower-current applications that would benefit from finer current limit resolution, we recommend the version with the potentiometer. For example, if you set the maximum to 500 mA with the pot, you can then use SPI to scale the current limit down from there in increments of 31 mA.

All carriers are available with and without header pins soldered. The following table compares the key differences among the three versions:

	DRV8434A	DRV8434S (Potentiometer for Max. Current Limit)	DRV8434S (2A Max. Current Limit)
Configuration:	I/O pins	SPI
Control interface:	STEP and DIR pins	STEP and DIR pins or SPI
Stall detection:	through GPIO	through SPI
Current limit:	Potentiometer setting (0–2 A)	Potentiometer setting for max. (0–2 A), scaled with SPI setting (%)	2 A fixed max., scaled with SPI setting (%)
Decay modes available:	1	8
Available versions:	headers included headers soldered	headers included headers soldered	headers included headers soldered

One of the most exciting features of these new chips is their integrated stall detection. We make carriers for a few other stepper motor drivers that provide back EMF outputs, such as the AMIS-30543 and High-Power Stepper Motor Driver 36v4, but processing those signals for stall detection is complex. On the DRV8434A and DRV8434S, the back EMF processing is integrated into the chip and a learning mode is provided to make stall detection simpler and more accessible. Even so, these drivers’ stall detection functionality might not work well in every application, and we have some notes on the product pages with tips on getting it to work (such as using hardware PWM to generate a steady step signal).

Minimal wiring diagram for connecting a microcontroller to a DRV8434A stepper motor driver carrier (1/128-step mode).

Typical wiring diagram for connecting a microcontroller to a DRV8434S stepper motor driver carrier.

The DRV8434A carrier was designed to be as similar to our popular A4988 and DRV8825 stepper motor driver carriers as possible, and it can be used as a drop-in replacement for these in many applications because it shares the same size, pinout, and general control interface. The DRV8434A always operates with a decay mode that TI calls “smart tune ripple control”, which tries to minimize the ripple current through the motor coils for smoother stepping and reduced audible noise in many cases. If additional flexibility is required, the DRV8434S offers a choice of eight decay modes, configurable through SPI; these include slow, mixed, and fast decay as well as the more advanced smart tune dynamic decay and smart tune ripple control modes.

TI also makes a DRV8434 (with no letter A or S at the end) in the same family of drivers. This version doesn’t have the stall detection feature or SPI, but it gives you the same choice of eight decay modes that the DRV8434S does. Why don’t we have a carrier board for the DRV8434 then? Well, we do have the boards, but with the extra long lead times right now, it could still be a while before we have the chips. (These are parts we ordered in June 2021, so more than 16 months ago now!)

DRV8434/DRV8434A Stepper Motor Driver Carrier, bottom view with dimensions.

Our DRV8434A carrier’s printed circuit board is designed to work with the DRV8434 too, and that’s why some of the pins are labeled with two names on the silkscreen. So, for those of you interested in a DRV8434 carrier, those will be coming some day!

Related products

	DRV8434A Stepper Motor Driver Carrier
	DRV8434A Stepper Motor Driver Carrier (Header Pins Soldered)
	DRV8434S SPI Stepper Motor Driver Carrier, Potentiometer for Max. Current Limit
	DRV8434S SPI Stepper Motor Driver Carrier, Potentiometer for Max. Current Limit (Header Pins Soldered)
	DRV8434S SPI Stepper Motor Driver Carrier, 2A Max. Current Limit
	DRV8434S SPI Stepper Motor Driver Carrier, 2A Max. Current Limit (Header Pins Soldered)

We’ve just released a new LSM6DSO 3D Accelerometer and Gyro Carrier! ST’s LSM6DSO is a combination of a 3-axis accelerometer and 3-axis gyroscope into a single chip, offering acceleration and rotation rate readings in the ranges of ±2 g to ±16 g and ±125°/s to ±2000°/s through I²C or SPI. This board is mostly an update of our older LSM6DS33 carrier that had most of the same capabilities, although the LSM6DSO features a number of improvements over its predecessor, like lower noise, a higher maximum output data rate for the gyro, and the option to use MIPI I3C (a communication standard intended as an advanced, but backward-compatible, replacement for I²C).

The LSM6DSO additionally supports operation in specialized modes with a secondary interface, allowing it to act as a master (sensor hub) on a second I²C bus or provide an auxiliary SPI slave interface that is useful for image stabilization applications. We’ve increased the width of the carrier board to 0.5″ to bring out those secondary interface pins and let it plug into a breadboard nicely:

LSM6DS33 3D Accelerometer and Gyro Carrier with Voltage Regulator, labeled top view.

LSM6DSO 3D Accelerometer and Gyro Carrier with Voltage Regulator, labeled top view.

LSM6DSO 3D Accelerometer and Gyro Carrier with Voltage Regulator in a breadboard.

Other than the extra pins and the different mounting holes, our LSM6DSO board is pretty much a drop-in replacement for the LSM6DS33 board. We’ve updated our LSM6 Arduino library to support the new chip too, so any code that was written for the LSM6DS33 can probably be modified to work with an LSM6DSO without too much trouble.

Related products

LSM6DSO 3D Accelerometer and Gyro Carrier with Voltage Regulator

Our Motoron M3H256 Triple Motor Controller for Raspberry Pi is now available! The M3H256 is a stackable I²C motor controller that can drive up to three brushed DC motors bidirectionally at voltages between 4.5 V and 48 V and continuous currents up to 2 A per channel. Unlike its M3S256 sibling, which is designed as a shield for an Arduino, the Motoron M3H256 is intended to stack on top of a Raspberry Pi (Model B+ or newer), similar to a HAT (Hardware Attached on Top). With an I²C address that can be configured uniquely for each board, a stack of Motorons let you control many motors at once without taking up lots of GPIO pins and PWM outputs from the Pi.

A robot with three omni wheels and motors controlled by a Raspberry Pi with a Motoron M3H256 Triple Motor Controller. A D24V22F5 regulator powers the Raspberry Pi.

If you decide not to plug it into a Raspberry Pi, the Motoron M3H256 can also be used in a breadboard or another custom setup with your own wiring:

An Arduino Micro on a breadboard using a Motoron M3H256 to control three motors.

Motoron M3H256 or M3H550 Triple Motor Controller for Raspberry Pi pinout.

The Motoron M3H256 is available in three different configurations similar to its Arduino shield counterpart: you can get one fully assembled with stackable headers and terminal blocks already soldered, a kit that lets you pick which of the included connectors to solder in yourself, or the board alone if you already have or don’t need connectors and standoffs.

And to help you get started using the Motoron with a Raspberry Pi, we have a Python library you can use to configure the M3H256 and send it commands:

import motoron

mc1 = motoron.MotoronI2C(address=17)
mc2 = motoron.MotoronI2C(address=18)

# Clear reset flags to allow Motorons to run
mc1.clear_reset_flag()
mc2.clear_reset_flag()

# Set up acceleration limits for Motoron #1
mc1.set_max_acceleration(1, 200)
mc1.set_max_acceleration(2, 200)

# Set up acceleration and deceleration limits for Motoron #2
mc2.set_max_acceleration(1, 75)
mc2.set_max_deceleration(1, 250)
mc2.set_max_acceleration(2, 80)
mc2.set_max_deceleration(2, 300)
mc2.set_max_acceleration(3, 75)
mc2.set_max_deceleration(3, 250)

# Drive the motors

mc1.set_speed(1, -100)
mc1.set_speed(2, 100)

mc2.set_speed(1, 300)
mc2.set_speed(2, 200)
mc2.set_speed(3, 50)

We’re sure there are plenty of applications where the convenience and scalability of Motorons will be useful. What kind of projects can you think of that would make good use of one (or several)?

For more information about the Motoron M3H256, see the product pages and the comprehensive user’s guide.

Related products

	Motoron M3H256 Triple Motor Controller for Raspberry Pi (Connectors Soldered)
	Motoron M3H256 Triple Motor Controller Kit for Raspberry Pi
	Motoron M3H256 Triple Motor Controller for Raspberry Pi (No Connectors or Standoffs)