It's fall again and students are headed back to school. Raspberry Pi and Arduinos are great tools for experimenting and learning; every engineering student should have one, or both! For this wishlist, we've put together some interesting accessories and starter kits that will get you on your way with Pi and Arduino projects.
Let's get started with the basics!
Breadboard
For most projects, you'll need a breadboard. They'll let you tweak your circuits without having to solder. Note: some of the starter packs below already contain breadboards.
Jumper Kit
To wire things up on the breadboard, you'll need wires of different lengths. Rather than cutting and stripping wires youself, jumper kits come in convenient lengths and colors for easy organization.
Arduino UNO
Most of you already know the Arduino - it's essentially a microcontroller that you can program to do almost anything. Arduinos have a variety of available shields, which let you add sensors, motors, displays, and pretty much anything else you need for your project.
Raspberry Pi
Raspberry Pi is a fully programmable single board Linux computer. Where Arduinos have available shields, you can get HATs (Hardware Attached on Top) for Pi. HATs also let you expand your Pi with whatever you need for your project, and there's a HAT available for pretty much everything.
Raspberry Pi Education Parts Kit
Assembled by the Raspberry Pi Foundation, this Education Parts Kit contains pretty much everything you need to get started, including breadboard, LEDs, a variety of sensors, resistors, capacitors, and jumpers.
Grove Kits
Now let's look at some kits. Grove is a prototyping system by SeeedStudio that takes a modular approach to electronics. The Grove system starts with a base unit (HAT or Shield), which provides a bunch of Grove connectors that you can add modules to. SeeedStudio calls the base unit the "stem", and the modules, the "twigs". Grove connectors make it a little easier to add and swap modules in your project.
Grove Starter Kit for Arduino
GrovePi Starter Kit for Raspberry Pi
Servo Motor
LED Segment
LCD Display
Light Sensor
Temperature Sensor
Sensor Board, Temperature, Humidity, Pressure and Gas Sensor, for Arduino
For more Grove-compatible products, click here.
Other Cool Kits for Pi/Arduino
Arduino Starter Kit
Arduino Starter Kits are available in different languages.
Arduino Student Kit
Pi Sense HAT
Arduino Sensor Kit
Tinkerkit Braccio Robot Arm
