Arduino Explore IoT Kit vs. Oplà IoT Kit: a detailed comparison
Arduino Team — November 18th, 2020
If you are looking for a solution to learn and experience the Internet of Things, there are two popular choices: the Explore IoT Kit and the Oplà IoT Kit. But which one should you pick? Here‘s a handy guide.
The kits share a very similar set of hardware and are in the same price range; moreover, they both offer a free one-year subscription to the Arduino Create MKR Plan, Arduino premium coding platform.
That is where the similarities end though! The Oplà IoT Kit is designed for individuals to use to add connectivity to the devices around the home or in the office, while the Explore IoT Kit is an educational kit developed for students to learn how to control objects remotely using digital dashboards and learn the fundamentals of the Internet of Things. Furthermore, they offer different online platforms and different projects — in other words, a completely different experience.
We’ve created a super simple guide to help you decide which is the right kit for you and your projects!
Both kits include:
And now, let’s explore what you can do with the Explore IoT Kit and the Oplà IoT Kit.
The Explore IoT Kit teaches you fundamental concepts to control objects remotely.
This educational kit includes 10 online student activities that adopt a learning-by-doing approach.
Step-by-step students will acquire knowledge by constructing fully functional solutions, including experiments, challenges, and building real-life applications. Students also learn to control objects remotely using a digital dashboard: the Arduino IoT Cloud.
The Oplà IoT Kit adds connectivity to your home, office appliances, and applications without the need for soldering.
This kit comes with a complete set of eight Internet of Things projects ready to turn everyday appliances into ‘smart’ appliances, e.g. a thermostat. More advanced users can create their own connected devices.
The two kits are currently available on the Arduino Store, priced at $114. Get yours today!
We’re excited to announce the launch of the Arduino Oplà Kit, the first open programmable IoT platform that allows you to add smart connectivity to the devices around your home or workplace and build custom IoT devices.
The Oplà IoT Kit contains all the hardware necessary to create eight connected applications, access to an online platform with assembly instructions, and a 12-month subscription to the Arduino Create Maker Plan. This kit is perfect for beginners with basic DIY experience, while more advanced users can leverage it to customize and hack their smart applications and devices, with full control of their data and processes.
Eight out-of-the-box projects to connect your home or workplace
The projects included in the Oplà IoT Kit enable users to turn everyday appliances into smart appliances, which can be controlled remotely on a mobile phone:
Personal Weather Station — Record and monitor local weather conditions
Home Security Alarm — Detect motion and trigger warnings
Solar System Tracker — Retrieve data from planets and moons in the solar system
Inventory Control — Track goods in and out
Smart Garden — Monitor and manage the environment for your plants
Thermostat Control — Smart control for heating and cooling systems
Thinking About You — Send messages between the kit and the Arduino IoT Cloud
Create, connect, control. The Internet of Things has never been so easy!
No soldering is required with the Oplà IoT Kit, which is based on a MKR IoT carrier with an OLED color display, on-board environmental sensors and capacitive touch buttons. The kit also includes a MKR WiFi 1010 board, a circular plastic enclosure and supporting accessories, such as two cables, a motion sensor, a moisture sensor, and a USB cable.
To build applications, users can rely on the Oplà online platform. Each project includes goals, an intro to the components, step-by-step instructions with illustrations and videos to guide you through assembling the product and building the code.
Finally, the kit acts as the physical interface of the Arduino IoT Cloud and comes with a 12-month subscription to the Arduino Create Maker Plan, offering unlimited compilation time and extended access to all the features of the Arduino IoT Cloud.
“When creating the Oplà IoT Kit, we wanted to design a platform that would allow anyone to gain a complete experience of what the Internet of Things has to offer around the home or workplace and I really believe we have achieved this. It is a great kit for users to build custom devices and enjoy being creative, no matter your level of experience,” says Arduino CEO Fabio Violante. “With this launch, we take yet another step towards lowering the barrier to entry for IoT development and cannot wait to see the projects created by users embracing connected devices both in their homes and at work.”
This week we are launching our Arduino Explore IoT Kit, which allows high school and college students to take their first steps in building connected devices. Educators can make a complex subject simple — explore the Internet of Things right now with Arduino Education.
Aimed at the beginner, there is a complete set of easy-to-follow online projects providing students with a gateway into the digital world of connected objects and how people work together.
The kit comes complete with a complimentary 12-month subscription to the Arduino Create Maker plan, meaning it’s quicker and easier than ever to learn how to monitor, manage, and control devices using the cloud — with the new Arduino IoT Cloud Remote app you can now do this on the go via your mobile.
We recently spoke to Sara Willner-Giwerc, (a PhD candidate at Tufts University in Boston, Massachusetts) about her amazing work using the Internet of Things in education — helping to show just how useful the new Explore IoT Kit will be.
“By leveraging the Internet of Things, students are able to build more powerful systems that are no longer limited to only the resources they physically possess. This technological capability presents a cool opportunity for students to experience how they can be more powerful when they connect and collaborate with others than they can be on their own.
Especially now, in this time of social distancing and remote learning, the ability to communicate with devices that aren’t physically near us has become even more essential than it was previously. I’m really excited about the idea of using IoT to help students think about designing for more global systems.”
Here’s what a student had to say about the new Explore IoT Kit, when he got the chance to try out an advanced version:
“I would describe it as a very beginner-friendly way to get started with the Internet of Things, and a kit that you will be able to expand upon with your own ideas and components.
…the getting started section got me really excited to actually get started because it inspired all these thought streams of what I could potentially create with the kit.” — Oliver Kempel, Danish High School Student
The kit features 10 activities for students to develop a complete understanding of IoT:
Using the IoT Cloud and connected devices: Control physical objects, such as a displays or lights, remotely with the Arduino IoT Cloud.
Collecting, processing, and storing data: Store data locally, wirelessly, and remotely for analysis and backup.
Graphing and visualizing data and understanding its meaning: Use different tools and techniques to graph data and interpret the information collected.
Serial communication, APIs, JSON, and web servers: Learn the essentials of how APIs (application programming interfaces) work, how to access remote web servers, and how to store the incoming data in JSON objects to create devices that can access all sorts of data from all over the world, and display it locally.
Network security considerations: Understand how software developers protect devices and information from unauthorized access.
Different sensors and how to use them: Investigate the environment using temperature, humidity, and light sensors, collect data about movement using an accelerometer, pressure, and motion sensors, as well as take care of your plants by following the data from moisture and light sensors.
Actuators and how to use them: Use lights, sound, display, and relays: electronic components used to activate high power devices, to visualize data, and control external devices.
N.B. In addition to the Explore IoT Kit, a second kit the “Oplà IoT Kit” will also be coming soon, targeting makers and professionals alike who are after an out-of-the-box IoT experience. The Oplà IoT Kit will enable users to instantly add connectivity to devices for the home and workplace — available from early October onwards.
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