Pololu Blog (Page 82)

Welcome to the Pololu Blog, where we provide updates about what we and our customers are doing and thinking about. This blog used to be Pololu president Jan Malášek’s Engage Your Brain blog; you can view just those posts here.

Popular tags: community projects new products raspberry pi arduino more…

Prometheus - a CNC Router Project

Posted by Paul on 21 September 2012

This CNC router features four of our A4988 stepper motor driver carriers. You can find more videos and information in this CNCzone forum post.

Ten years in Las Vegas

Posted by Jan on 5 June 2012
Ten years in Las Vegas

Starting with the move from our dorm to an apartment in Watertown, Massachusetts, Pololu has moved or expanded ten times. The most significant was our move to Las Vegas, which represented a commitment to doing this thing for real. This past Sunday was the 10-year anniversary of arriving in Las Vegas, so I figured I should commemorate it by putting up some old pictures. Continued…

Tabletop Robotics 3pi Projects

Posted by Ryan on 31 May 2012

Tabletop Robotics is a site with a series of interesting, customer-created open source projects for the 3pi robot, including barcode reading, grid navigation, and remote control.

Thoughts on Open-Source Hardware

Posted by Jan on 26 April 2012
Thoughts on Open-Source Hardware

As open-source hardware (OSHW) has become more prominent over the past five years or so, I have heard questions about where I or Pololu stand on the subject. Most recently, I got into a bit of a discussion with Phillip Torrone of Make and Adafruit on one of his blog posts, and his questions and subsequent interview pushed me to try to organize some of my thoughts about OSHW. Because there are many aspects to OSHW, I don’t have a simple conclusion like, “It’s great!” or “It’s the future!” or “Pololu will never release an OSHW product.”. I am skeptical of some of the claims by OSHW proponents and of the significance of the more organized aspects of the OSHW movement. However, what is going on is very significant to me because it affects Pololu’s business and involves issues I care about a lot, such as freedom, creating things, and education. Continued…

Wixel as Wireless USB for Propeller Chip

Posted by Paul on 19 April 2012

This video by Martin Heermance shows how you can use a Wixel to to wirelessly program a Parallax Propeller microcontroller. For more information see this forum thread.

Three and a half months to plug in our machines legally

Posted by Jan on 29 March 2012
Three and a half months to plug in our machines legally

This post is an account of the difficulties I have had for the past four months in getting permits to run our equipment at our new location, which we moved to in December of 2011. I am writing this partly as notes for myself and others at Pololu, but the main point of sharing this is to warn and commiserate with other businesses having to deal with such problems and to give other readers some awareness of the real-world ramifications of the regulations much of the public seems all too eager to embrace. I still have a hard time believing we really had to go through all of the hassle and expense, so I am also hoping that some readers might point me to some resources so that I can avoid this in the future. I realize there is speculation and hearsay in my report, but I want to emphasize that my impressions are based on many vendors, contractors, public employees, and manufacturers: in all, I spoke to dozens of people about our experience. I will try to be as specific as practical without unnecessarily exposing individuals who were trying to be helpful to undue scrutiny. Continued…

The GardenBot - using computer vision to help out in the garden

Posted by Ryan on 14 March 2012

“The GardenBot” uses a Maestro Servo Controller to help it track an orange bucket. The plan is for it to help its creator’s wife do her gardening by following her around with a large wagon full of supplies. See this forum post for more information.

Trackduino P1213 Arduino shield

Posted by Paul on 2 March 2012

This custom Arduino by Craig Hollabaugh shield mounts a Pololu dual MC33926 motor driver carrier for easy control with an Arduino. For details, see his project video and build log: page 1, page 2, page 3.

New Products

Motoron M1U550 Single Serial Motor Controller (Header Pins Soldered)
MinIMU-9 v6 Gyro, Accelerometer, and Compass (LSM6DSO and LIS3MDL Carrier)
ACS724 Current Sensor Carrier -2.5A to +2.5A
Zumo 2040 Robot (Assembled with 75:1 HP Motors)
3pi+ 2040 Robot - Hyper Edition (15:1 HPCB Motors), Assembled
Zumo 2040 Main Board
LPS22DF Pressure/Altitude Sensor Carrier with Voltage Regulator
Zumo 2040 Robot (Assembled with 50:1 HP Motors)
4.2-15V, 3.3A Fine-Adjust Step-Down Voltage Regulator D30V33MAS
Free Circuit Cellar magazine February 2023
Log In
Pololu Robotics & Electronics
Shopping cart
(702) 262-6648
Same-day shipping, worldwide
Menu
Shop Blog Forum Support
My account Comments or questions? About Pololu Contact Ordering information Distributors