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A couple of projects utilise the Arduino along with the RPi to do some applications (example). Can such projects be done with an RPi without the Arduino?

I have an RPi-3-B (with Raspbian installed) and wondering whether or not to get an Arduino too. I haven't worked with an Arduino before and so wondering if it would be worth the effort.

What are the reasons would one prefer interfacing their RPi with an Arduino?

Ébe Isaac
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1 Answers1

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The Arduino has a couple of advantages over the Pi:

  1. analog input and output pins. The pi does not have any analog pins, so things like driving a servo or reading an analog sensor may require extra hardware (the Pi does have some PWM capabilities).
  2. better realtime performance.
  3. most Arduinos are 5 Volt tolerant, while the Pi is not (it uses 3.3V). This means connecting the Arduino to 5 Volt sensors etc. is easier.

Most of these limitations can be overcome with the proper choice of hardware (ADC's, DAC's, level shifters etc.).

You can read more about the differences and tradeoffs here, also this post has an interesting test to help you decide between them. This question and its comments are helpful as well.

Community
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Steve Robillard
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