UDOO joins open source, single board computer fray

This enables developers, designers and roboteers to add an unprecedented degree of complexity to their projects, because the UDOO also has the added benefit of full compatibility with Arduino hardware and software. UDOO can run both Linux and Android. Changing the operating system is as easy as replacing the micro SD card and rebooting the device.

Starting life on the Kickstarter crowdsourcing website, the UDOO received enough pledges to fund the project twenty times over. The goals of the project were to develop a product for the growing applications market by offering a low cost embedded platform, suitable for the interactive arts, that has powerful tools including Processing, OpenCV, PureData and OpenFramework.

Its two processors are the i.MX6 and the dedicated Atmel SAM3X8E which provides full Arduino compatibility.

Other features include 76 GPIO ports, Arduino compatible R3 1.0 pinout, external SD card support, dedicated GPUs for 2D and 3D graphics and composition, digital audio in/out, HDMI and LVDS + Touch, 2 x MicroUSB, 2 x USB 2.0 Type A and 1x USB 2.0, analogue audio and mic jacks, CSI camera connection, RJ45 Ethernet, and WiFi module SATA connector with power header.

“It is really exciting to become the authorised UK distributor of UDOO”, said Rapid’s Richard Philpot.

“Imagine a computer comprising four Raspberry Pi’s and an Arduino Due, which can still be held in the palm of your hand, and you get an idea of the significance of UDOO.  It has the potential to be a powerful tool for businesses and education, because it can be used for complex prototyping and can teach students so much about physical computing, software development and designing for interactive arts.”