Arduino VS Raspberry Pi

If you want to start with electronics, you will quickly come across the names Arduino and Raspberry Pi . In this article we will tell you what the differences and similarities are. We will also explain how you can best choose between both platforms.

Arduino is used if you want to control electronic components and read sensors. You can connect lights, motors, buttons and many more components. The Arduino is perfect for making simple electronic projects and robots. The Arduino works thanks to a microcontroller . A microcontroller is able to remember and execute a program. A big advantage of microcontrollers is that they use little energy. You can even connect the Arduino Uno to a 9V block battery. Arduino comes out with a number of new boards every year. These come in different shapes and sizes. The Arduino Nano boards are the smallest boards that Arduino currently produces. These are ideal if you want to make a small device. Arduino has recently also started making boards for the industrial market. Such as the Arduino portenta h7 .

It is possible to place a Shield on an Arduino. Shields are printed circuit boards that you can place on your Arduino to provide it with extra functionality. These printed circuit boards make it possible, for example, to connect the Arduino to the internet and to post on social media.

You can program the Arduino boards in the Arduino programming language, a dialect of C++. You do this by writing a program on the computer in the IDE or Arduino Create. Then you connect your Arduino board to the computer and upload the code to the Arduino. Once this is done and all components are connected properly, the Arduino will continue to execute the code until you disconnect the power.

Unlike the Arduino, a Raspberry Pi uses a microprocessor. These processors are normally used in computers and laptops. The processor must work together with separate chips such as RAM, Graphics controller, etc. to work. With the Raspberry Pi all these chips are on one board. The Raspberry Pi is therefore also called a single-board computer. The Raspberry Pi runs on an operating system that you write to an SD card. The most commonly used is Raspbian, this operating system was developed by Raspberry Pi itself and is constantly being improved. However, there are also hundreds of other operating systems available for the Raspberry Pi . Such as LibreElec kodi to play media. Or RetroPie to play old video games.

Just like a computer, you can connect a screen (2 for the Pi 4), mouse & keyboard. Furthermore, the Raspberry Pi has multiple USB ports, one ethernet port. There is also a built-in Bluetooth and WiFi module to connect the Raspberry Pi wirelessly. Thanks to all these features and the increased working memory in the newer versions, you can use the Raspberry Pi completely as a computer. This does require more power consumption. Where you can connect the Arduino to a battery, you must always connect Raspberry Pi to a power outlet. The Raspberry Pi is therefore a lot more extensive than Arduino, which is of course nice for some projects, but this also makes the Raspberry Pi a bit more complex to start with.

So far, the Raspberry Pi sounds like the Arduino, but why are these boards so often compared to each other? That is because of the GPIO pins . GPIO stands for General Purpose Input/Output. This means that the pin has no specific function. Normally, pins have a specific purpose such as sending a signal or receiving a signal. A GPIO pin is adjustable and can be controlled by software. The GPIO pins are not the same as the pins on the Arduino, but they can be used to control different components and read out sensors.
Where you need a computer to program an Arduino, you can program the Raspberry Pi directly. This is possible because the Raspberry Pi is already a computer. The Raspberry Pi is usually programmed using Python. But for beginners it is also possible to use other packages such as Scratch .

Where you can use Shields for the Arduino, you have HATs (Hardware Attached on Top) for the Raspberry Pi The principle is the same as a Shield. A HAT is a printed circuit board that you can place on the GPIO pins for extra functionality.

Our team has been working with both Arduino & Raspberry Pi for years. Both platforms are very interesting to use. If you want to actively get started with an electronics hobby, we always recommend purchasing both platforms so that you know that you have a suitable platform for every project. Do you only want to make small simple projects or build a robot? Then Arduino is a very suitable choice.
Do you want to use computer elements like a camera, external storage or do you want to create a web server? Then Raspberry Pi is a better choice.
Once you are more advanced with Arduino & Raspberry Pi you can also make them communicate with each other. This allows you to combine the advantages of both platforms.
Are you still unsure about which platform is best for you? Please contact us. We are happy to help you!