Wednesday, February 4, 2015

A slice of Pi

So in deciding to build a custom Robot in the Robie shell, another decision needs to be made. What to base the platform on? Two of the more common & popular choices are Arduino and Raspberry Pi. The both have their pluses and minuses. The biggest difference is that Raspberry Pi is essentially a full computer. It runs an OS and can be hooked up to a keyboard & monitor just like a desktop. The Arduino is more like a programmable piece of hardware. It seems to be better for single-task sorts of things that require precise measurements or timing. Or for extremely low power consumption applications. Either are valid choices for a robot build. I chose a PI because a) I already had one and was familiar with it's workings and b) The possibilities of hooking up a camera, Ethernet and speakers et al. seemed a lot more straight forward than with Arduino. And another bonus is that I could code in Python which I am already familiar with.


In choosing a Raspberry Pi there are actually even further choices to be made... Which model? The model A, A+, B, B+ and now apparently the model 2 B! I actually chose 2 different models for my purposes. The A+ and the B+. The 2 B didn't exist when I bought the project parts. But I probably still wouldn't have ordered it. It uses more power than the B+ and A+ models. As do the older A and B models. The B+ and A+ models strike a nice balance between performance and power. 

So why the B+ and the A+? Well I intend on running the robot off of the A+ exclusively. But For development I'd like to have the flexibility of more USB ports. The A+ also doesn't have any Ethernet or WiFi. So that makes it a bit more challenging to set up. Once configured I can easily remove the micro SD card from the B+ and stick it in the A+. And also who doesn't want more Pi's kicking around their workshop?

No comments:

Post a Comment