Is Arduino used practically or only for learning? According to my understanding , PLC(programmable logic controller) is used in most practical applications. Please correct me if I am wrong
I'm a hobbyist and I build projects for personal use. I assume that's what most people are doing with it.
I do have an electronics degree, I've done quite a bit of programming, and I've been an electronics hobbyist for many years so the learning was pretty easy. (But I don't know everything about the Arduino, or all the Arduino versions... I only learned what I needed to know.)
The advantage of the Arduino over a "random microcontroller" is that development is quick, easy, and economical. And you can build a one-off (or small production) project economically without custom designing a controller board (which again saves time and is more economical.)
If you are doing mass-production it's usually more economical to design a custom PC board that exactly meets your requirements. (But it does take a LOT more engineering time & expense.)
Many years ago I used a different microcontroller and made a "wake-up system" that fades-on the light in the morning and then beeps gently. And I made a car alarm. The wake-up system is still in-use and if it dies, I'll re-design it around an Arduino. The car alarm died after several years. It was too old to repair and I didn't replace it but if I wanted to I'd us an Arduino for that too.
I've made a few sound activated lighting effects, which is something I've done since I bult a kit in junior high. I was thinking about a new lighting project and I started to design with discrete analog and digital electronics and it was getting super-complicated. Then I thought about using a microcontroller and I discovered the Arduino. It was a lot easier with software doing most of the "work", instead of hardware, and I added features & options that weren't in the original plan.
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I think your understanding is just backwards from real life. I would not know where to start with PLC and I have made quite a few practical devices using the Arduino devices. Perhaps the problem is you have not explored what you consider to be practical applications.
For me, I have currently running, an anemometer. An irrigation storage tank controller. For my previous company, I built a drying oven controller, a coil winder, a solder paste cold storage/warmer device. And several other devices that I don't recall. Those seem to be quite practical devices.
HI,
This is your 2nd post with almost the same question. My guess the responses haven't provided your an answer to your question.
Perhaps you should think about what you are looking to learn and rephrase the question.
What exactly are you wanting to do ?
Arduino is a microcontroller development ecosystem that is optimized of ease of use. This makes it a good entry point for learning about microcontrollers, but doesn't preclude its use in "practical applications".
PLCs, in my mind, are a fairly narrow subset of the controller application space. That is, they're typically targeting industrial control sorts of applications. Arduino can and does overlap this application space, that is, Arduino stuff has been used in industrial control, but Arduino really is a simplified general purpose controller ecosystem that can be applied to a wider range of applications than is typical for PLCs.
It makes more sense to compare/contrast Arduino with "professional" development environments (e.g. Microchip (formerly Atmel) Studio). The latter provides better access to low level microcontoller functionality at the cost of a much steeper learning curve, but they fundamentally do the same thing.
Similar background here, but I’m probably a decade or two older as my hundreds of ‘projects’ until about 2020 were old stuff - transistors, TTL & CMOS ICs etc. Not sure if our replies are relevant, but I too am guessing most Arduino users are closer to the Hobbyist end of the spectrum than ‘Professional/ Commercial’.
There is also an "issue" with the open source licences , you can make a commercial product but you also must make your code public.
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