User Manual

2. Assembly

If you ordered a fully-assembled m3pi robot [https://www.pololu.com/product/2151], your

m3pi expansion board and the included 3pi robot are already populated with all of

the standard components except for the Wixel socket headers, because these would

interfere with the XBee socket. If you want to use a Wixel, please see the Wixel Socket

portion of Section 2.a. Otherwise, you can skip this section and move on to using your

m3pi robot!

Note: Assemby of the m3pi expansion kit [https://www.pololu.com/product/2152] into an m3pi

robot requires soldering. No soldering is required if you order the fully-assembled m3pi

robot.

2.a. Adding Components to the Top of the Expansion PCB

This section will guide you through adding components to the top side of the m3pi expansion board,

which requires through-hole pins to be soldered on the underside of the PCB. Please note that the

components you actually need depend on how you plan on using the board, so you do not need to

install components you know you will not be using. For example, if you never plan on using your

mbed as a USB host, you do not need to solder in the USB A connector. Section 4 contains detailed

descriptions of these components and can help you determine which components you will need for

your particular application. However, there is no harm in installing them all, and doing so gives you

maximum flexibility (maybe you’ll change your mind down the road and decide you want to try out

using the mbed as a USB host after all).

2. Assembly Page 9 of 39