Whether you are a maker or creating a real-world solution, the communication between Raspberry Pi and Arduino is needed, as each have their own advantages such as specific Shields/HATs, boards, modules, and accessibility.
A great example of how Arduino and Raspberry Pi work together is View into the Blue, a company that created a custom camera system that lasted four months underwater using the Arduino and the Raspberry Pi! This was all done with creative programming, and utilized communication between each of the boards and accessed their specific functions.
Cooking Hacks (brand under Libelium has made compatibility easier between Arduino and Raspberry Pi with their Raspberry Pi to Arduino Shields Connection Bridge board.
Just as the name suggests, this board allows you to use Arduino Shields on the Raspberry Pi and provides that Shield (or board and module designed for Arduino) to have accessibility that is provided on the Raspberry Pi.
Cooking Hacks has created the arduPi library, which allows you to use the Raspberry Pi with the same code used in Arduino, making it a seamless transition. The library has already had conversion functions implemented, meaning that you can easily control all the I/O interfaces the same way you would on the Arduino; I2C, SPI, UART, analog and digital.
The Raspberry Pi to Arduino Shields Connection Bridge is compatible with the Raspberry Pi, Raspberry Pi (Model B+), Raspberry Pi 2, and the Raspberry Pi 3.
This board will be a great addition when attempting to cross-platform, especially featuring 2 of the most popular boards out in the market. We won’t leave you with just this product though; here are some recommended Shields that you can combine with this shield to really get creative on your design:
e-Health Sensor Shield
This Shield adds to your Arduino or Raspberry Pi the ability to create biometric and medical applications for body monitoring. You’ll be able to use 9 different sensors (not included) that can be used to monitor the state of a patient (in real-time) or record sensitive data that can be analyzed for medical diagnosis. It has connectivity options that include Wi-Fi, 3G, GPRS, Bluetooth, 802.15.4, and ZigBee.
4-Relay Shield
The 4-Relay Shield from Arduino Corporation can provide solutions when dealing with anything over the voltage and current limits of the controller. This means that you can control projects that are over 5V, which includes controlling garage doors, water pumps, and lamps.
See related product
Ultimate GPS Logger Shield
This GPS Shield from Adafruit is an assembled shield designed to log data to an SD card, use the GPS for a geocaching project, or something even unique, like a music player that changes tunes depending on where you are in the city. What is even better is that the shield is stackable, so you can add even more cool shields to your project and add features that you think would make your project even better!
Capacitive Touch Shield
You can combine your Arduino/Raspberry Pi with this Capacitive Touch Shield to add on 12 capacitive touch sensors that work by detecting when a person (or animal) has touched one of the sensors. You can add jumper wires to extend the length of the shield. It will work great for projects that require a control panel or anything that requires touch sensitivity.
These are just some shields that you can use with the Connection Bridge board, but the possibilities are endless!
Check out some of our other Raspberry Pi and Arduino Articles:
Learn more about the Arduino MKR Series.
See how to control Arduino to Arduino via Bluetooth
Arduino vs. RP3: See which board is for you!