Arduino cheaper than roboduino-- not

[jamort]

the arduino appears to be cheaper than the roboduino... but as we all know in reality we all now its not after buying or making shields... and possibly buying headache medications... the question is it seems that the arduino sells a lot more than the roboduino what is the reason for this...
I personally thiink that is kind of messed up how the arduino is designed.... the boards are like $30 but if you buy the shields they cost about $50....

JMO
 

[GearMotion]

While I agree with you that the shields are an expensive way to add function to the Arduino, they are reasonable for people that want that functionality without the burden of making their own hardware.

The Arduino sells a lot more than the Roboduino because it is used for a LOT more than just robotics. The Roboduino adds little more than just the convenience of supporting the 3-position servo connections. That doesn't necessarily appeal to everyone - the extra cost isn't worth it to many.

The Arduino design is "messed up" only from your/one perspective, that of a direct comparison to a niche product like the Roboduino.

[sonictj]

what do you not like about the arduino?  I personally get annoyed by the header spacing.  I like the idea of a base board with full functionality, but I'd like to make my own shields rather than having to buy them.  If you feel the same way you may be interested in the board I designed.  Its compatible with the arduino mega  and all of its i/o headers are .1" spaced, for accepting home brew shields.  It also has all 86 i/o brought out.  I modified the arduino software to support them.  The board will probably run $80 because they will be low volume, and I will be making them myself.  Those are just a few of the features if you are interested look at this post.

http://www.societyofrobots.com/robotforum/index.php?topic=8060.0

I ought to have pictures on Tuesday when the prototype comes in.  I would appreciate it if you sent me a personal message saying what you think of the design, and also the cost of $80.

[SmAsH]

mainly because arduino wasn't aimed at robotics, it was aimed at other things like just plugging in small things like led's
and bits of bare wire... in none of the tutorials does it use crimped pins, but just bare wires...

The roboduino was aimed for robotics, to come save all those people who were stuck using arduinos and shields and to make a simple plug'n'play system for all the robotics hobbyists. an easier was than needing to set up a whole breadboard!

[Razor Concepts]

I like using the Seeduinos, they have extra holes for perfect .1" spacing so that I can make my own shields out of protoboard.

Personally Arduino and Roboduino have their ups and their downs... so I got them both and I'm happy 

[kpmcgurk]

I think the main reason that the arduino is so popular is because it was backed up by make magazine, right there they had a huge advertisement

[sonictj]

I think the main reason that the arduino is so popular is because it was backed up by make magazine

I definitely think that helped.  I'm planning on putting my board on their blog to hopefully stir interest.

[SmAsH]

I think the main reason that the arduino is so popular is because it was backed up by make magazine

I definitely think that helped.  I'm planning on putting my board on their blog to hopefully stir interest.

just tell them you can use it to command a giant transformer... that might help....
but if you can get it in their blog, thats thousands maybe even millions that will see your board!
and if you get it in the magazine, your getting to the people that actually spend their money on magazine instead of going online so they will buy the board!
i think your board will be quite popular

[Admin]

Yea, the Arduino looks cheap because the upfront costs are low. But if you add all the extra wiring, bread boarding, shields, the requirement for two batteries, a USB cable, etc., then it'll be more. If you add up all these costs for the Arduino Mega, it'll be the same price as the Axon.

There was a tv special that interviewed some walmart execs. They were asked about why walmart sold really low quality made-in-china stuff. The execs responded something like 'because customers only look at price'.

 

[sonictj]

Yea, the Arduino looks cheap because the upfront costs are low. But if you add all the extra wiring, bread boarding, shields, the requirement for two batteries, a USB cable, etc., then it'll be more. If you add up all these costs for the Arduino Mega, it'll be the same price as the Axon. Grin

I think there is more to it than that.  The arduino by nature is a prototyping platform, and what I mean by that is the board is built for great flexibility.  I think that premise is a winning one the problem I have though was their stupid board layout.  The thing was designed to be 100% open source, but somebody decided to skew that one header .05" and it made the board pseudo proprietary.  Any shield is required to be sent out to a PCB house.

The great part of a "universal" board (doesn't exist, but arduino is close) like the arduino is that you can customize the shield to your application.  This is very appealing because a lot of controllers are focused on a single purpose.

The key aspects I look for in a board are these in order of importance
 
1.  how versatile is the design (#i/o and their capabilities,voltages supported)
2.  how easy is it to interface with my hardware (connector layout)
3.  price

[kpmcgurk]

I agree with you, and some people look at it like you do... but the average person... looks at things just on price... do you think that the person just getting into electronics will know that

somebody decided to skew that one header .05" and it made the board pseudo proprietary

Probably not... so really If you are someone who thinks it will be a great hobby and decides to get into it, they look for an entry level board. You have a cheap board with all of the free documentation and tutorials that you can get. And you have one for 100... even though the one for 100 is waywayway(did i say Way?) better, they will get the cheap one, because at the time of purchase they have know idea why one is $100 Vs. like $20.

[SmAsH]

yep, most of us are poor when we are starting in electronics and thus prefer to make our own boards...
if i had the money when i started i definitely would have gone for the axon...
but i didn't, i got a roboduino...