ARDUINO vs IPHONE vs BEAGLE BOARD

Forum 2005-2010 (read only) General Frequently-Asked Questions
1

ARDUINO vs IPHONE vs BEAGLE BOARD ......?

huge gaps in prices comparisons, but imagine if we want to do something "more complicated, needs speed and complete"

the IPHONE(600MHZ CPU) has LCD (touchscreen), GPS, Accelerometer (XYZ), and is way MUCH CHEAPER compared to a bundle of ARDUINO(16MHz CPU)+LCD touchscreen+GPS+accelerometer.
BEAGLE BOARD is like too expensive and dont be fooled by them saying its "open source", its not, but idk how it can be populaire enough.

as a newbie in robotics, i am confused by this, so what do u guys, the "semi" experts and experts say about this ... ?

2

Netbook

3

You forgot to mention the fact that the iPhone also has: 3G connectivity, wifi connectivity(802.11b/g), 8GB disk space, MP3 player, 2mp camera, web browser, 128MB RAM, lithium ion battery... You may need to sign a two-year contract, though!

[edit]OH! Don't forget about the BlueTooth![/edit]

[edit]Also.. Don't expect the great features of open-source hardware![/edit]

4

IPHONE IS ONLY 120$ now and could be JAILBREAKED easily, so its like OPEN SOURCE

5

The BOM may be $120.
Show me where I can get a contract-free one for $120

and could be JAILBREAKED easily, so its like OPEN SOURCE

URL for source, please?

6

I dont think this is even really a valid question (aside from vomiting this same post over and over again)

iphone has no gpio, so what its it going to do to?
beagleboard it seems is out due to the op's rant on it

sooooo? what would that leave

7

Chicks think Iphones are hot, so that may be the way to go if one wants to be a "player". :slight_smile:

8

ARDUINO vs IPHONE vs BEAGLE BOARD ......?

huge gaps in prices comparisons, but imagine if we want to do something "more complicated, needs speed and complete"

the IPHONE(600MHZ CPU) has LCD (touchscreen), GPS, Accelerometer (XYZ), and is way MUCH CHEAPER compared to a bundle of ARDUINO(16MHz CPU)+LCD touchscreen+GPS+accelerometer.
BEAGLE BOARD is like too expensive and dont be fooled by them saying its "open source", its not, but idk how it can be populaire enough.

as a newbie in robotics, i am confused by this, so what do u guys, the "semi" experts and experts say about this ... ?

First, you need to define what your robot is supposed to do, what it is for, and where it will operate (along with a host of other parameters) before you can determine what the controller should or will be.

For instance, if your robot is a simple desktop rover, you probably don't need the GPS (GPS doesn't work great indoors, if at all - plus, a rover is likely to be confined to an area smaller than the error percentage of GPS, making it nearly useless even if you have a signal, unless you invest in some sort of indoor DGPS system), and you may or may not need the accelerometer.

For nearly any robot, you likely don't need an advanced, high-resolution touch screen LCD. You might need a simple character or GLCD for some status info, but that's about it.

I would not go for an iphone (or any other phone) for a robot controller, mainly because of the lack of GPIO, etc. A BeagleBoard may be useful in some instances, but not all. A netbook can be useful if your robot is big enough, but you still need GPIO for interfacing.

I feel that the Arduino platform really fills "the void" - it is more than powerful enough for most robotics needs hobbyists are likely to find themselves doing; it provides plenty of GPIO, has enough memory for complex programming, plus is fairly low power to make even small desktop rovers and such feasible. Larger robots (or those that need more capabilities) can use the Arduino as a controller for the GPIO capabilities, and use a netbook PC or a Mini-ITX motherboard PC for all the extra capabilities (vision, route planning, wifi, storage, etc). Multiple Arduinos could be used as slave controller for many different tasks on a robot, especially if it is much larger than what most hobbyists would play with (see the Arduino-controlled GPS-guided combine tractor for an example).

The other parts like GPS, accelerometers, etc - all of that is "fluff" that you are better off buying as separate sensors anyhow; typically you can find them cheap (especially if you go used or surplus), and you generally want them separate so that you can place the sensors each where they would work best for the system as a whole (especially on a larger robot).

:slight_smile:

9

Chicks think Iphones are hot, so that may be the way to go if one wants to be a "player". :slight_smile:

Or you can use it to order a pizza while sitting home by yourself reading the Arduino forums... :slight_smile:

10

IPHONE IS ONLY 120$ now and could be JAILBREAKED easily, so its like OPEN SOURCE

You seem to have a pretty twisted definition of what open source involves. Can you show me a link to the source code for the iphone?

Lefty

11

iPhone connects to external hardware ... pretty much not at all.
BeagleBoard connects to sort-of PC-class external hardware.
Arduino connection directly to switches, lights, sensors, etc.

Pricewise... iPhone requires buying a phone contract (~$1200) to get attractive prices ($120? OK, if you say so.) BeagleBoard is about $150.
$150 worth of Arduino gear is a lot, depending on what class of things you buy. For instance, Arduino+wireless+prebuilt-sensors won't be cheap.

OpenSourceness... iPhone isn't. Arduino is. I'm not sure what the complaint against BeagleBoard is; for sure you can't build a modified version in your garage, even if all the designs are published, the way you can with Arduino, but that doesn't mean it's not open source.

See "$100 Paradox": http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-choose-a-MicroController/step6/The-100-Paradox/

12

iPhone and GPS should not really be used in the same sentence. You're gonna try and use it for a robot??? to do what exactly? Get completely lost delivering something as that's all the iPhone GPS is good for.

The accuracy is PAP, with a capital CRAP.

Don't get me wrong, I love my iPhone... just not for GPS usage. I'll use my dedicated Garmin for that.

The problem with using a multifunction device... as always... is too many features for any single feature to be truly excellent. Focus on the elements required and optimise those.

Just my 2p's worth

13

IPhone UNLOCK from AT&T:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/202559/unlock_your_iphone_4_devteam_releases_ultrasn0w_for_iphone_4.html?loomia_ow=t0:s0:a38:g26:r13:c0.005535:b23488632:z0

IPhone controlling R/C CAR :
http://www.google.co.id/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CBUQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nerdkits.com%2Fvideos%2Frc_car%2F&rct=j&q=iphone%20rc%20car&ei=-SFmTIfRIcOXceih5aIP&usg=AFQjCNHKP3A39hWUDK62PY9x8sbzm3WY4w&cad=rja

SO, WHAT DO U THINK, PEOPLE

P_Wood, IPhone could do the RC CAR controlling, i think its kinda
open source then? i am a newbie, sorry if i am wrong, man, kinda confused.
what do u think about it, P_Wood ?

AWOL, you can watch youtube how to jailbreak IPhone and unlock the
GSM. i hope i didnt get them twisted, i am really a newbie and
noobish in this field, actually, i am looking for some guidances
from u guys by this thread.
what do u think, AWOL ?

Osgeld, i have just found out what GPIO is, man, sorry forbeing noobish, but since i am
a total newbie, pls forgive me and could u give some dircetions, man.
and i just made a new reply, man...
what do u think about it all, Osgeld ?

cr0sh, now thats what i call "stunning infos more than expected", no wonder
u r a "god" member. i understand ur all explanations but the 5th paragraph needs
more digging around, for sure, but its the most "god-ish explanation", thanks
very much for that, cr0sh.
i made a new reply, man, what do u think about the new reply?

zoomkat and Joe Internet, thanks for the info, guys, ill go for that, kewl

retrolefty, yea, actually i think that way, man, any suggestions or could u give
some explanations about that, man ?
and what do u think about the new reply i made, man?

westfw, thanks for the instructable, man, i think it could be unlocked so we dont need
to sign a contract for that, what do u think, man, sorry to be sounding noobish, a newbie here
man...

funky diver, sorry if i sound noobish, man, but what do u think about IPhone controlling RC Car,
man ?

14

unlocked != open source, I have an unlocked PSP but I cant edit the firmware, doesn't mean I can use it as a base to distribute my own psp firmware, it does mean I can write software to run on it, If I don't infringe on sony's sdk license or sony patents

iPhone controlling anything, its the same as a pc controlling anything, doesn't really matter you could use a power glove and some toggle switches, without hardware to decipher whatever code is coming out of whatever device into physical actions you dont have physical control

hince micro (and this is the important part) controller, iPhone has the following coming out of it

audio in and out
video out
serial i/o
usb
firewire

now how does one get firewire or any of the above to control hardware devices

you dont, you can use those signal formats to interact with a controller that will be doing all the final work

sorry you just dont get a iPhone, write an app and have it magically control your blender with no other steps between

and in your "iPhone controls car" example maybe you missed that the atmega 168 (which is arduino compatible) is the controller, which is toggling switches in the cars radio control, but for the whole iPhone thing to work (which could be any web enabled device) it has to be tethered to a PC running a webserver and presumably hooked up to the internet

thats the best of every expense :wink:

15

osgeld, thanks for the explanations, man, another "god member"..... the explanations help a lot
and sorry if i posted several threads, man, will not do it again, i got used to it in whatever forums before, lol
just not in this forum again, promise, man

16

its cool, go back to them you can delete them

although the thread will survive as long as there are comments it will either be buried quickly or people will follow suit and it will just go away

17

and what do I think of it all, I think you need a goal, there is a lot to learn, and without your deathbot or whatever planned out in a idea you have no clue where to start

18

man, i "removed" the post but the thread is still on, how to delete the thread, man, seemed like it couldnt be deleted

actually, i am just looking for a microcontroller with all sensors in it, and has "average decent" cpu and memory, i thought iphone kicked asses coz it has all the sensors in it and we dont need to buy 1200$ contract coz we can unlock it from AT&T and jailbreak it, idk what those stuffs mean, but i thought it was supposedly "like some kinda open source".
but seems to me like using a cheap netbook PC or ITX motherboard and multiple arduinos for "slaves" to be the best solutions, but WEIGHT factor is always to be considered more for me, some kinda obsession i have with that. cr0sh gave the recomendations tho, i think its the best recomendations ever, cool as hell, he is a real expert or more than that, i think, just like u, man, he is a "god member" as well.
check that out man, in page one.
what do u think, osgeld

19

I don't really wish to participate in this, but to set basics straight:

the iphone is not a microcontroller. As it happens, the beagleboard is actually a great development system with a big community and in terms of capabilities it's basically a small computer - i.e. processing power of an iphone or greater. However with great power comes great need to know what your doing, so in terms of getting started, it's best to start with something simpler, such as the arduino.

20

actually, i am just looking for a microcontroller with all sensors in it, and has "average decent" cpu and memory, i thought iphone kicked asses coz it has all the sensors in it and we dont need to buy 1200$ contract coz we can unlock it from AT&T and jailbreak it, idk what those stuffs mean, but i thought it was supposedly "like some kinda open source".

"Jailbreaking" is essentially a process by which, using various hacks and cracks one is able to take a phone that is "locked down" (in jail), and "break it out"; so that you then can load whatever software and do whatever with the system (basically, by becoming root). A standard iPhone is a fairly locked down system; I am sure that this process, which is done by most cellular providers (regardless of the phone), is meant mainly to be able to deliver a robust and stable platform for the majority of their users, while keeping them a "captive" audience; preventing competition or "non-approved" software out of the market is a bonus.

but seems to me like using a cheap netbook PC or ITX motherboard and multiple arduinos for "slaves" to be the best solutions, but WEIGHT factor is always to be considered more for me, some kinda obsession i have with that.

By the time you need more than one slave, you are likely working on a large and complex robot; even if the robot isn't that large, if you need this kind of complexity, you might look into smaller devices for the slaves (ATTiny-class), and slave them off the main ATMega. The ATMega could be "standalone", or it could act as a communication gateway via the USB serial port to a netbook or mini-ITX board.

A desktop rover could rely on just a simple Arduino, and it would have a lot of processing power for many tasks. You could also, for example, connect up multiple ATMegas into a "multi-chip" system, and have this communicate with the ATTiny slaves, all via I2C. This would keep the size down, while still allowing for a lot of power (provided you can think modularly about the system and programming).

cr0sh gave the recomendations tho, i think its the best recomendations ever, cool as hell, he is a real expert or more than that, i think, just like u, man, he is a "god member" as well.
check that out man, in page one.

Thanks for the feedback, but really, I make mistakes all the time, and I learn something new here every day...

:stuck_out_tongue: