We have had a lot of fun with this year’s Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale so far, and I hope many of you have, too. The sale isn’t over yet, but it will be soon, so make sure you get any last-minute orders placed in the next eight hours!

Also, a big thank-you to the shipping department for getting all the orders out (especially to those who came in on the weekend to make sure everything went smoothly)!

Our Black Friday / Cyber Monday sale is going strong, and we have been working hard to make and ship the products that people are getting great deals on. If you have already placed an order, thank you! If you are still trying to decide if you want to take advantage of our amazing deals, don’t wait too long—the sale ends Monday night.

We’re less than two days away from our annual Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale, our biggest sale of the year! This year, in addition to our usual doorbuster deals (limited total quantity promotions at extreme discounts) and large discounts, we are offering up to $7 off of shipping for those who claim their coupon before the sale begins. For many of our smaller items shipping within the US, that discount will be enough to make shipping free, and it should also make a meaningful reduction in shipping costs for our international customers who want to participate in this American tradition. To take advantage of this offer, just log in to your account and follow this link, which will generate a coupon code just for you. You must get your coupon before the sale begins, and you can then use it during our sale, which will run from Wednesday, November 23 through Monday, November 28. Keep an eye on our Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale page for all the latest about the sale!

We are now carrying the Raspberry Pi Model A+ 512MB, which is just like the previous Model A+ but with double the RAM, so it also works with our various Raspberry Pi expansion boards. In particular, it can be combined with our A-Star 32U4 Robot Controller with Raspberry Pi Bridge to make a powerful control center for a small robot (check out this tutorial).

A-Star 32U4 Robot Controller SV with Raspberry Pi Bridge on a Raspberry Pi Model A+.

And speaking of small robots, stay tuned for some fun new products that will also work with the Raspberry Pi!

Related products

	Raspberry Pi 1 Model A+ 512MB
	A-Star 32U4 Robot Controller LV with Raspberry Pi Bridge
	A-Star 32U4 Robot Controller SV with Raspberry Pi Bridge

We have released slightly updated (irs05b) versions of our 38 kHz IR proximity sensors and discontinued the previous (irs05a) versions. The main changes are to the locations of the IR emitter and receiver, which have been moved away from the edge of the board. This results in better shielding from the PCB itself, which improves performance. Also, the front edge is now routed rather than scored to provide a cleaner edge that also slightly improves the sensor performance and consistency.

Like the originals, these new sensors are available in high-brightness and low-brightness versions with typical sensing ranges up to around 24″ (60 cm) and 12″ (30 cm), respectively. The new versions have the same dimensions and pinouts as the originals, so they can be used as drop-in replacements for any applications that are not dependent on the original component locations.

Related products

	Pololu 38 kHz IR Proximity Sensor, Fixed Gain, High Brightness
	Pololu 38 kHz IR Proximity Sensor, Fixed Gain, Low Brightness

We made a short video showing how the parts of our new Romi chassis fit together:

Related products

	Romi Chassis Kit - Black
	Romi Chassis Kit - Pink
	Romi Chassis Kit - Red
	Romi Chassis Kit - Yellow
	Romi Chassis Kit - Blue
	Romi Chassis Kit - White

We are having a big Labor Day sale throughout the weekend, with 15% discounts on over 800 products when you use the coupon code LABORDAY16. Note that we will be closed on Monday, so orders placed after 2 PM Pacific Time on Friday, September 2 will be shipped on Tuesday, September 6.

For more information, including all of the sale items, see the sale page.

In celebration of Independence Day (July 4th), we are discounting selected products by up to 25% and offering an upgrade to the next best price break for everything else in our store. Please note that we will be closed Monday, so orders will not ship until Tuesday, July 5.

For more information, including all the discount coupon codes, see the sale page.

Happy 4th of July!

We are having a big Memorial Day sale now through Monday, with discounts on over 800 products when you use the coupon code MEMORIALDAY16. Stock up on robot parts now so you can build cool things all summer long! Note that we will be closed on Monday, so orders will not ship until Tuesday, May 31.

For more information, including all of the sale items, see the sale page.

We just added 16 new micro metal gearmotors to our already huge selection, including three totally new MP (medium power) gear ratios: 5:1 MP, 210:1 MP, and 250:1 MP. With these new additions, we now have dual-shaft versions available in any combination of our 11 gear ratios and four motor types, giving you 44 different options that work with encoders like our magnetic encoder pair kit.

Magnetic Encoder Kit for Micro Metal Gearmotors assembled on a micro metal gearmotor with extended motor shaft.

In all, this increases our total selection of micro metal gearmotors to 85 unique options:

Motor Type	Stall Current @ 6 V	No-Load Speed @ 6 V	Approximate Stall Torque @ 6 V	Single-Shaft (Gearbox Only)	Dual-Shaft (Gearbox & Motor)
high-power, carbon brushes (HPCB)	1600 mA	6000 RPM	2 oz-in	5:1 HPCB	5:1 HPCB dual-shaft
		3000 RPM	4 oz-in	10:1 HPCB	10:1 HPCB dual-shaft
		1000 RPM	9 oz-in	30:1 HPCB	30:1 HPCB dual-shaft
		625 RPM	15 oz-in	50:1 HPCB	50:1 HPCB dual-shaft
		400 RPM	22 oz-in	75:1 HPCB	75:1 HPCB dual-shaft
		320 RPM	30 oz-in	100:1 HPCB	100:1 HPCB dual-shaft
		200 RPM	40 oz-in	150:1 HPCB	150:1 HPCB dual-shaft
		140 RPM	50 oz-in	210:1 HPCB	210:1 HPCB dual-shaft
		120 RPM	60 oz-in	250:1 HPCB	250:1 HPCB dual-shaft
		100 RPM	70 oz-in	298:1 HPCB	298:1 HPCB dual-shaft
		32 RPM	125 oz-in	1000:1 HPCB	1000:1 HPCB dual-shaft
high-power (HP) (same specs as HPCB above)	1600 mA	6000 RPM	2 oz-in	5:1 HP	5:1 HP dual-shaft
		3000 RPM	4 oz-in	10:1 HP	10:1 HP dual-shaft
		1000 RPM	9 oz-in	30:1 HP	30:1 HP dual-shaft
		625 RPM	15 oz-in	50:1 HP	50:1 HP dual-shaft
		400 RPM	22 oz-in	75:1 HP	75:1 HP dual-shaft
		320 RPM	30 oz-in	100:1 HP	100:1 HP dual-shaft
		200 RPM	40 oz-in	150:1 HP	150:1 HP dual-shaft
		140 RPM	50 oz-in	210:1 HP	210:1 HP dual-shaft
		120 RPM	60 oz-in	250:1 HP	250:1 HP dual-shaft
		100 RPM	70 oz-in	298:1 HP	298:1 HP dual-shaft
		32 RPM	125 oz-in	1000:1 HP	1000:1 HP dual-shaft
medium-power (MP)	700 mA	4400 RPM	1.5 oz-in		5:1 MP dual-shaft
		2200 RPM	3 oz-in	10:1 MP	10:1 MP dual-shaft
		730 RPM	8 oz-in	30:1 MP	30:1 MP dual-shaft
		420 RPM	12 oz-in	50:1 MP	50:1 MP dual-shaft
		290 RPM	17 oz-in	75:1 MP	75:1 MP dual-shaft
		220 RPM	21 oz-in	100:1 MP	100:1 MP dual-shaft
		150 RPM	28 oz-in	150:1 MP	150:1 MP dual-shaft
		100 RPM	36 oz-in		210:1 MP dual-shaft
		90 RPM	41 oz-in		250:1 MP dual-shaft
		75 RPM	46 oz-in	298:1 MP	298:1 MP dual-shaft
		22 RPM	80 oz-in	1000:1 MP	1000:1 MP dual-shaft
low-power	360 mA	2500 RPM	1 oz-in	5:1	5:1 dual-shaft
		1300 RPM	2 oz-in	10:1	10:1 dual-shaft
		440 RPM	4 oz-in	30:1	30:1 dual-shaft
		250 RPM	7 oz-in	50:1	50:1 dual-shaft
		170 RPM	9 oz-in	75:1	75:1 dual-shaft
		120 RPM	12 oz-in	100:1	100:1 dual-shaft
		85 RPM	17 oz-in	150:1	150:1 dual-shaft
		60 RPM	27 oz-in	210:1	210:1 dual-shaft
		50 RPM	32 oz-in	250:1	250:1 dual-shaft
		45 RPM	40 oz-in	298:1	298:1 dual-shaft
		14 RPM	70 oz-in	1000:1	1000:1 dual-shaft