Arduino vs raspberry pi: which one is the best

As a lover of the electronic and programming world so many people work on electronic projects. As a result, they get in touch with many technologies during their learning process. Some of the students use raspberry for process learning, and some others use Arduino to begin. Here comes a group of questions that the hobbyist asks. Which board to use? or start with Arduino or raspberry, which one is the best ?.So the battle will be like Arduino vs raspberry pi, wich is the best keep reading.

before responding to this question you have to understand as a beginner. If you want to start learning and making embedded systems and robotics projects. To clarify the key is not about starting with a specific technology Arduino or a raspberry pi. So, in the next paragraph were going to talk about what the important for you. In addition, talking about Arduino and its characteristics and the same thing for raspberry.

what is arduino

Arduino is an open-source electronic board that has a goal to facilitate the use of hardware and software. Arduino board has an input for reading signals coming out from the board. For instance, light, a finger on the button, or another signal coming from another card…

The goal of the Arduino board could be turning these signals into outputs pulses. As a result, to run motors, blinking LEDs, whatever you want… The Arduino has a microcontroller where the whole instructions come from. This microcontroller trait the information and give feedback.

For example, if I press a button the light goes on, and if I press it again the light goes off. In this case, The button is connected as input and the bulb as an output. So, the microcontroller receives the signal from the button and transforms it into action. Certainly by sending a signal to the lamp.

what is a rasspberry

The raspberry pi is a nanocomputer that has one card with a processor. To clarify, it plugs into a computer monitor or Tv, it is like a small computer. you could plug it with a standard keyboard and mouse.

It allows people to explore computing and learn how to program. It behaves like a normal computer. But, with limited performance. In addition, it has the ability to interact with the outside world. Meanwhile by executing physical projects, electronics projects like music machines, house detectors, robots, and monitored cameras…

The raspberry could be used for many applications. Moreover, execute even professional projects like this video this guy could hack a test car with raspberry pic piece...

Is arduino and rassbperry pi are the same

If we compare the prices we would find a huge difference between Arduino and raspberry. With only 5 dollars you can have an Arduino piece and start tinkering with your projects. But, if we talk about raspberry the prices are much higher, you will need 50 dollars to have a raspberry piece. However, it is obvious because as we told raspberry pi it is a computer like other computers. In addition, it got digital outputs that allow users to make physical project like electronics and robotics applications.

This is what makes a raspberry piece much expensive than an Arduino. Because it gives you a lot of extended uses, and what makes Arduino cheaper is its composition based on a microcontroller who is a lot cheaper than a microprocessor used for raspberry.

what could you do with rasspberry ?

raspberry has a lot of features that Arduino could not have and that depends on the need of the user. If you want to make a dor camera application with Arduino. Consequently, it would be impossible without buying other complements or shields (extended cards ) used with a principal board. But with raspberry, it will be easy and accessible. On the other hand, if the need is simple. For example, a home laser alarm, the Arduino option will be enough and effective at a cost.

So it is impossible to compare Arduino with raspberry and that is clear in price. But we could say that raspberry has a lot of features that you could not find in Arduino.

Arduino and raspberry use different language programming. Python for raspberry and c or c++ for Arduino theses languages are different from each other. But both have big support and community on the internet. Nowadays, you can find a thousand libraries on online reaching almost any topic you want. So you can learn or make a project about it. Is good for beginners in this world.

arduino vs raspberry pi for robtoics

In terms of robotics applications and learning robotics using Arduino or deciding to choose a raspberry. It depends on project complexity. If you want to build enormous projects with a lot of features. For instance, using computer visions application, connecting with the internet, and gathering GPS information data. It will be impossible to do that with 5 dollar board Arduino. But, in some cases, it could be even more complicated for raspberry and you might need a more sophisticated board. So the size of the challenge judges the choice.

But sometimes in the Arduino, especially when we talk about robotics or embedded systems. It could be more effective than a raspberry pi. If you want to pick projects and you want to have a high speed and less time execution. It would be a lot better with a cheaper board (Arduino) . Because Arduino uses a low-level language. It is too close to the hardware and leads to having efficiency in robotics projects versus Python, the language used in raspberry pi.

So if your application could be affected by the speed you could count on Arduino but you will have to add other extensions to benefit of features like raspberry has or maybe sometimes you should pick another bord specialized for these tasks.

arduino vs raspbery pi for iot

For its application, Arduino almost barely could do any achievement. if you want to do the IoT application you will need to buy a lot of accessories, to begin with. for that there is an alternative board that could replace Arduino in this topic called esp8260 is designed for its application and could operate well with the features that come with.

But even with the new board. The raspberry-pi is still, a good choice due to the variety of features that come with it. And even with resources that students could access easily online. A lot of IOT projects need ethernet ports, wifi cards, and Bleutout modules… The majority of that is inbound in raspberry pi which facilitates the work and application.

arduino vs raspberry pi for beginners

So many beginners always ask this question in their beginnings and how they should start. Most frequent questions turn about choosing to start with Arduino or a raspberry pi.

So my response will be… If you want to star in embedded systems or make your own electronics projects. First of all, you should have a solid base on electronics so before going to programming.

You must pick a course in electronics for at least 3 months. Or even more with practice, you could spend up to 6 months. It is not a problem. It will be game-changing for you. Because the electronic bases that you will acquire will allow you to have a deeper vision. Therefore you could go to the next step that is programming.

What makes the difference between people is always the basics. Sometimes there some projects could be made without any line of code. But they need knowledge in electronics. So the first step is to learn steadily the electronics and take your time in the learning process.

arduino vs raspberry pi for conclusion

Now is time to respond to the question ” DO I HAVE TO BEGIN WITH ARDUINO OR RASPBERRY “?

Personally, I will recommend starting implementing the electronics knowledge that you have studied recently with Arduino because is much simple and not complex and even a lot cheaper for a student.

you have to start making projects by following tutorials on the internet teaching Arduino and focusing on practice. Make sure of yourself that you are learning well. Take your time to learn the basics of the C language.

When you find yourself comfortable with Arduino and have a tough experience. You could pass to the raspberry. In this time you will be forced to learn the new language programming called python. It is easy compared to c. If you don’t find python easy. That is to say, you have skipped steps and you have to go back studying c language.

So to sum up you have to start like this strategy that I recommend.

electronics => Arduino => learn python =>learn raspberry pi

I think this is a good start that offers a solid base for beginners. It is a foundation to go ahead in this domain for any ambitioned and passionate people to learn programming and electronics area.