Raspberry Pi and Arduino
Raspberry Pi and Arduino
Raspberry Pi
The Raspberry Pi is a single board computer that is about the size of a credit card. Despite its small size, it is a very capable device. The Pi runs a version of Linux that was customized to work on the ARM processor that drives it. This puts a lot of functionality into a small device that is easy to embed into things like robots. But, although it’s an excellent computer, there are a couple of places where it doesn’t excel. One area is interfacing with external devices. It can work with sensors and external devices, but the Arduino does this much better.
Arduino
Arduino is another handy and easy-to-use mini processor that is available. Unlike a Raspberry Pi, however, it does not have the capacity for a full operating system. Rather than running a microprocessor like the ARM, it uses a different type of chip called a microcontroller. The difference is that a microcontroller is specifically designed to interact with sensors, motors, lights, and all kinds of devices. It directly interacts with these external devices. The Pi works through many layers of processing before it ever reaches the pins that a device is connected to.
By combining the Raspberry Pi and the Arduino, we are able to leverage what each does best.
The Raspberry Pi provides high-level processing power for a complete PC. Arduino provides the raw control over external devices. The Pi allows us to process a video stream from an easy USB camera; whereas the Arduino allows us to collect the knowledge from the varied sensors, and apply logic to form sense of all that data, then return concise findings to the Pi.
The Raspberry Pi is perhaps the most inspiring computer available today.Although most of the computing devices being used (including phones, tablets,and game consoles) are designed to stop people from tinkering with them, the Raspberry Pi is exactly the opposite.
