Both variants allow you to start making or easily upgrade UNO R3-based projects with more computational power, memory, and speed than previous versions – courtesy of the RA4M1 microcontroller by Renesas – while maintaining the same form factor and 5 V operating voltage.
What’s in the new UNO?
- More memory and faster clock: A 16x increase in memory and 3x the clock speed mean the UNO R4 can perform more precise calculations and handle more complex and sophisticated projects than ever.
- New built-in peripherals: Among several exciting new peripherals, you get a 12-bit DAC, CAN BUS, OP AMP, and SWD port – each one expanding your maker potential, allowing you to easily tackle increasingly advanced projects.
- A USB-C Connector: Embracing the smaller, more powerful, and robust cable standard!
- An HID device: This feature makes interactive projects a million times cooler, allowing you to create interfaces with minimal effort and in no time.
You can get started on your next automation or audio project with the UNO R4 Minima – a top pick for first-time makers, with its combination of powerful technology and affordable price – or you can opt for the UNO R4 WiFi if you need more specific features.
Connect to your inner creativity with the UNO R4 WiFi
The UNO R4 WiFi variant is perfect for all users, from beginners to experts, wanting to explore the forefront of innovation. This full-fledged board features an ESP32-S3 coprocessor that handles Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Low Energy connectivity, so the RA4M1 microcontroller can focus on other tasks. On top of all the features in the Minima variant, it offers:
- Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, plus Cloud-compatibility: build IoT projects, create interactive dashboard and control your project remotely.
- A 12×8 LED matrix: imagine working on a creative project using animations or plotting sensor data, without any additional hardware!
- A Qwiic connector to facilitate quick prototyping: thanks to a wide variety of compatible modules that can be connected over I2C, you can easily create custom projects and expand the capabilities of your UNO R4 WiFi.
- A built-in mechanism that detects operations that might cause a crash: if it catches errors such as a division by zero, the board stops them before they can cause trouble and provides a detailed explanation on the serial monitor
“The Arduino ecosystem has evolved, over the last two decades, thanks to the powerful idea of open source and the stellar community of 30+ million makers who keep sharing, building, and improving. Every new hardware product, every new software solution has added new worlds – ready to welcome everyone. Now, the UNO R4 takes the ecosystem and the community to a new dimension of performance.” – Massimo Banzi, Arduino co-founder
So, if you’re just beginning your Arduino journey, the release of the UNO R4 makes it a great time to start!
Already an UNO fan? The UNO R4 makes it easy to port existing shields and projects to a whole new level, and selected contributors are already helping us update UNO R3 libraries.
A final big thank you goes to our community and early adopters, who have supported us these past few months by contributing their efforts to porting libraries.
Source: Arduino
