Arduino Goes Pro at CES 2020 • Hacker News Board

Re: Arduino Goes Pro at CES 2020

#21

Post by derefr » Tue, Jan 07, 2020, 5:22 PM UTC

fastball wrote: post #13

rhcom2 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not a bad question at all. The Arduino offers you the ability to code on a lower level, while the Raspberry Pi is giving you a full operating system. Some projects, especially IoT, don't need all the overhead of an OS with and without that comes improved reliability and better understanding of the state of the device.

Can you not flash a pi with some non-OS firmware?

Yes; or, for greater ease-of-use, you could just write your logic as a Linux kernel driver, leaving the rest of the OS to do its job. After all, from the perspective of the controller, you're interacting with a peripheral—and that's exactly what device drivers are designed to do.

Re: Arduino Goes Pro at CES 2020

#22

Post by vb6sp6 » Tue, Jan 07, 2020, 5:23 PM UTC

evv wrote: post #18

vb6sp6 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

javascript and python support seem like huge improvements

On one hand I think it's ridiculous to mention these languages for industrial applications. But I've also just spent the past year programming an automated mobile restaurant. We use a traditional PLC for everything safety or time-sensitive, but everything else is JavaScript. We're planning to use even more JS on the next-gen system. Details are in my profile if you want to help, or if you want to convince me otherwis…

I think you should stick with the language you know the best, especially if you are the one doing the coding.

Re: Arduino Goes Pro at CES 2020

#23

Post by codebeaker » Tue, Jan 07, 2020, 5:26 PM UTC

I wonder if this will finally bring HD video encoding to arduino platforms?! I'll have to check what kind of VPU IPU the STM32H7 has, at least I don't see how they can break out the IO for a camera interface, but this would be amazing.

Looks like the STM32H7 supports one MIPI CSI-2 peripheral (and/or one MIPI DSI).

Another comment on this thread mentioned on the back of this module are two long flat board-to-board style connectors.

Re: Arduino Goes Pro at CES 2020

#24

Post by zwieback » Tue, Jan 07, 2020, 5:26 PM UTC

Why wouldn't you move to the existing STM32 ecosystem instead of sticking with Arduino for pro/industrial applications?

Re: Arduino Goes Pro at CES 2020

#25

Post by katmannthree » Tue, Jan 07, 2020, 5:30 PM UTC

vb6sp6 wrote: post #22

evv wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On one hand I think it's ridiculous to mention these languages for industrial applications. But I've also just spent the past year programming an automated mobile restaurant. We use a traditional PLC for everything safety or time-sensitive, but everything else is JavaScript. We're planning to use even more JS on the next-gen system. Details are in my profile if you want to help, or if you want to convince me otherwis…

I think you should stick with the language you know the best, especially if you are the one doing the coding.

I agree with that, but writing code for industrial applications is fundamentally different from whipping up a backend for the hottest new Lyft for Parrots startup.

If industrial equipment malfunctions, people can be killed or horribly maimed. Industrial equipment needs to do exactly what it was designed to do 24/7 for years or decades in horrible (EMI, temperature, etc) environments.

Re: Arduino Goes Pro at CES 2020

#26

Post by joezydeco » Tue, Jan 07, 2020, 5:31 PM UTC

wiremine wrote: post #3

This has been a major gap for Arduino for a while, and it's cool to see them take a crack at solving it. Beyond the hardware, I'd love to get some more details on the software tool chain and their plans to sell/support turning the prototypes into production modules.

production modules

If there's no second source of boards, I can't consider that production ready for anything. It was and still is a COTS module that can be modified for a single purpose application but there's no way I would resell this as a commercial unit.

Same for RPi and all the others. Spin it yourself or take your chances.

Re: Arduino Goes Pro at CES 2020

#27

Post by ahnick » Tue, Jan 07, 2020, 5:35 PM UTC

evv wrote: post #18

vb6sp6 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

javascript and python support seem like huge improvements

On one hand I think it's ridiculous to mention these languages for industrial applications. But I've also just spent the past year programming an automated mobile restaurant. We use a traditional PLC for everything safety or time-sensitive, but everything else is JavaScript. We're planning to use even more JS on the next-gen system. Details are in my profile if you want to help, or if you want to convince me otherwis…

What's the automated mobile restaurant?

Re: Arduino Goes Pro at CES 2020

#28

Post by sokoloff » Tue, Jan 07, 2020, 5:36 PM UTC

the-dude wrote: post #19

starik36 wrote: post #4

Not trying to troll - just don't know. Why would anybody use an Arduino versus a five dollar Raspberry Pi Zero?

Zero's are not available in bulk ( one of the many reasons actually ).

I thought zeros were available in bulk, just not at the $5 promotional price point.

Re: Arduino Goes Pro at CES 2020

#29

Post by brenden2 » Tue, Jan 07, 2020, 5:38 PM UTC

The nice thing here is that they appear to be using automotive grade components (it says -40 to 85°C operating range). I've previously designed electronics for extreme temperatures (up to 150C in our case) and building hardware that works at those temperatures is very tricky. It's nice that you can buy something off the shelf like this, my life about 10 years ago would have been so much easier had this existed.

Re: Arduino Goes Pro at CES 2020

#30

Post by sigmaprimus » Tue, Jan 07, 2020, 5:38 PM UTC

vb6sp6 wrote: post #12

katmannthree wrote: post #9

Looks like they're finally using a top-of-the-line MCU, the STM32H7. Very nice. Unfortunately I don't see how this is a significant improvement otherwise for industrial uses, where the biggest barrier for custom components is certifications (FCC, UL, CE, ATEX, etc).

javascript and python support seem like huge improvements

I might be wrong but I believe the problem with using these languages in industrial applications has to do with the back end running them as these os's are subject to system calls or interrupts that mess with critical timing situations.

I believe this is the reason 3D printers and other CNC machines still use a seperate dedicated controller such as original arduino rather than just using the GPIO on a newer arm board running a full stack.