Best Seeed Studio Grove Modules, Sensors, and Accessories
The Seeed Studio Grove ecosystem is an easy-to-use platform featuring plug-and-play simplicity. Its set of standardized connectors eschew any complex soldering or wiring for seamless component hook ups. Grove devices are made to be compatible with the Arduino integrated development environment (IDE), and peripherals connect with Grove microcontroller units (MCUs). In order to make the most out of the Seeed Studio Grove system, you'll want the right modules. Check out the best Grove modules for making!
What is the Seeed Studio Grove Ecosystem?
Seeed Studio's Grove ecosystem is a platform of Arduino IDE-compatible microcontrollers and accessories. While most microcontrollers require wiring, push-pins, breadboards, or soldering, Grove instead features simple plug-and-play connectors similar to DuPont connectors. As such, it's an excellent platform for beginners and quick prototyping.
Grove consists of two main components: A Seeed Studio Grove microcontroller and any connected peripherals such as sensors, LCDs, LEDs, and other devices. On the software side, Grove boards may be programmed with the Arduino IDE.
What is the Seeed Studio Grove ecosystem for Arduino: A user-friendly platform of Arduino IDE-compatible
Grove Beginner Kit for Arduino
If you're in the market for Seeed Studio Grove peripherals, the Grove Beginner Kit for Arduino is a fantastic option. It's not one module, but an Arduino-compatible microcontroller with ten different sensors included. All sensors are pre-connected with PCBs (printed circuit boards), so there's no wiring required. However, the 10 Grove sensors may be broken out and connected using Grove cables. Onboard, you'll find an LED, buzzer, button, OLED display, rotary potentiometer, light, sound speaker, temperature and humidity sensor, air pressure sensor, and 3-axis accelerator. As such, it's a phenomenal starter kit for anyone looking to grow their Seeed Studio Grove collection.
Grove Moisture Sensor
Arduino moisture sensors are incredibly useful. Using a microcontroller, you can create a smart home automation automatic plant watering system. Simply connect moisture sensors to an MCU along with various components such as pumps and hoses. Then, upload some code to dole out water at a desired moisture level. There are tons of possibilities for a moisture sensor.
Seeed Studio Grove Temperature Sensor
Temperature sensors are quite beneficial for a variety of maker projects. While off-the-shelf smart home temperature sensors are available, you can always build your own. Then, you can send that data to a smart home hub for real-time monitoring as well as automation. Using a temperature sensor for Grove, you can capture temperature data from a variety of different sources.
Breadboard for Grove
A breadboard is essential for many maker projects. Seeed Studio's Grove breadboard features an onboard DuPont connector, standard-sized breadboard, and resettable fuse PTC with a 500mA maximum current. It's a fantastic choice for hooking up non-Grove components like through-hole LEDs or Arduino peripherals that require wiring. Pairing a Grove-compatible microcontroller with a breadboard is a fantastic choice that opens the door to tons of different DIY possibilities.
Grove Speech Recognizer Kit for Arduino
Speech recognition has become a major trend in electronics, from Amazon's Alexa to Google Assistant. For the Raspberry Pi and other maker boards, the Google AIY vision and voice kit offers speech recognition capabilities. Using the Grove speech recognizer kit for Arduino, you can incorporate speech recognition into various at-home maker projects. For example, you can build a smart home hub that responds to voice commands for powering on and off components like your television or MP3 player, turning the lights on and off, or any number of different use cases.
Raspberry Pi Grove Base Kit
While the Raspberry Pi may not be the only single-board computer (SBC) on the market, it's certainly the most popular. Seeed Studio's Grove base kit for the Raspberry Pi allows for connectivity with Raspberry Pi boards. You can connect a Seeed Studio Arduino microcontroller to a Pi SBC.
Grove Shield for Micro:bit
The BBC Micro:bit is an affordable microcontroller for maker projects. Using the Grove Shield for Micro:bit, you can connect a whole host of different Grove accessories to the BBC Micro:bit. It's a great method for using Grove peripherals with the Micro:bit, and bridges the gap between the two ecosystems. With its low price tag and ease of use, the Micro:bit is an excellent, user-friendly MCU. Pairing it with the Grove shield allows for cross-platform compatibility between Grove and Micro:bit devices.
BeagleBone Grove Base Cape
The BeagleBoard Foundation offers many different maker boards and microcontrollers. Capes for BeagleBone boards add functionality such as connectivity with various hardware accessories. And the BeagleBone Grove base cape lets you connect Seeed Studio Grove accessories to BeagleBone boards. It's a fantastic option that lets you hook up a smattering of Grove sensors and accessories to BeagleBoard maker boards.
Best Seeed Studio Grove Modules, Sensors, and Accessories - Final Thoughts
There are loads of Grove Seeed Studio modules, sensors, and accessories for all sorts of purposes. Sensors, LEDs, displays, buzzers, and other peripherals let you spin up any number of maker projects. Add-ons like the Grove Shield for Micro:bit, BeagleBone base cape, and Raspberry Pi base kit allow for compatbility with maker boards and microcontrollers. And you'll even find options to add advanced capabilities to Grove-powered projects such as a speech recognition kit. With its ease of use, Seeed Studio's Grove ecosystem is perfect for prototyping, and the thousands of accessories let you build virtually anything you can think of.
Your turn: What have you built with Seeed Studio's Grove platform?
Moe Long is an editor, writer, and tech buff with a particular appreciation for Linux, Raspberry Pis, and retro gaming. Writing online since 2013, Moe has bylines at MakeUseOf, TechBeacon, DZone, SmartHomeBeginner, DEV.to, DVD Netflix, and Electropages. You can read his writings on film and pop culture at Cup of Moe, check out his tech reviews, guides, and tutorials at Tech Up Your Life, and hear his thoughts on movies on the Celluloid Fiends podcast. Aside from writing and editing, Moe has an online course, the Beginner's Guide to Affiliate Blogging From Scratch. When he's not hammering away at his keyboard, he enjoys running, reading, watching cinema, listening to vinyl, and playing with his dog Sebastian.
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