Dawn Robotics, mostly known (as the name implies) for their robotics kits and parts, have released a new board called the Pi Co-op. Here’s what they say about it:
The Pi Co-op is an Arduino compatible microcontroller expansion board for the Raspberry Pi. The Pi Co-op makes it much easier to hook up electronics to the Raspberry Pi than using the GPIO pins directly, and provides a powerful programmable microcontroller that can take care of your low level hardware whilst the Pi focuses on the higher level computation. The Pi Co-op brings the worlds of the Raspberry Pi and the Arduino together, and means that you don’t have to make the false choice between an Arduino or a Pi for your next project. Use the best bits of both!
It has an onboard ATMega328p chip which has been programmed with the Arduino Uno bootloader (so it’s easily programmed from the Pi) and includes a 10-bit 8-channel analog-to-digital converter. All the inputs and outputs are broken out to headers. They’ve written a handy manual for the board and also created a script to set it up with the Pi. The price is very attractive – it’s available for £16.99 (inc VAT) with a £2 shipping charge if your total order comes in at less than £50.
It looks like a great board – very compact and neat and a great way to get into Arduino programming. In fact, it could be the most cost-effective way I’ve seen to bring the Arduino and Pi together.
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