these sound interesting.
what is a functional use for these systems other than an electronic toy?
why not use a cheap industrial control instead?

 

these sound interesting.
what is a functional use for these systems other than an electronic toy?
why not use a cheap industrial control instead?

These are intended to introduce newcomers to the field of embedded controllers or to a specific manufacturer's MCU offerings. They allow simple, plug-and-play at minimal cost with ample application support from the manufacturer and large user base.

What the user/developer does after the initial learning curve has been surmounted is his/her own prerogative.

 

why not use a cheap industrial control instead?

"cheap industrial" does that exist?
I think the cheapest thing I can find would be a $70 Click PLC..
Well.. I can pick up an arduino based device for $10 or less..


As said above.. Arduino,etc.. is all about being an entry level way to get into microcontrollers/programming..
Different strokes for different folks..
All depends on what you are trying to do..
They wouldn't make microprocessors in hundreds of different flavors/offerings,etc.. if everyones needs could be accomplished with a PLC or similar..

 

these sound interesting.
what is a functional use for these systems other than an electronic toy?
why not use a cheap industrial control instead?

The possibilities are endless:

I made a device that fits inside an Altoid mint tin, in my pocket, which tracks my rock climbing activity (like a FitBit or Garmin, but for elevation changes.)

I made a temperature/humidity sensing fan control system, with data logging, to control an attic fan of sorts protecting a poorly designed roof from condensation. The data logging helped us learn which set of weather conditions it was which cause trouble for us.

I've made several different systems prototyping future high end espresso machine concepts. The system tracks water flow, pressure, and temperature, using fuzzy logic to regulate all relevant parameters in real time. The finished product would use a better designed, custom embedded solution, but for quick and easy testing of concepts, the Arduino platform is great.

The combinations of features for each of these projects (size, logging, interface and display requirements, etc.) mean that none of these projects could've been done with industrial controls, and if I had attempted the closest version I could make with industrial controls, it would've cost 10 times as much. (the brains of these projects ranged from $10-$40 each, and sensors and conditioning circuits were well under $100 for each project.)

Microcontrollers certainly aren't the best solution for every problem, and you could argue that they're used now in a lot of situations where they shouldn't be, but there are also a lot of situations in which they excel.