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Grove System

The Grove system is pioneered by Seeed Studio. 

It consists on 3 main components:  
  • An adapter board to plug into the most popular main boards. There's a Grove cape for the BeagleBone, a Grove BoosterPack for the LaunchPads, a shield for the Arduino, among other variants.
  • A unique 4-pin connector for analog and digital GPIOs as well as ports like UART or I²C.
  • A wide range of modules, including sensors, actuators and screens. 
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The connectors and cables share the same 4 pins across all the modules with
  • black for ground
  • red for VCC, either +5 V or +3.3 V
  • white for signal 2 or I²C SDA data or UART TX
  • yellow for signal 1 or I²C SCL clock or UART RX
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The connector of the cable includes a fail-safe design to prevent any misplacement. 
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The modules include a wide range of sensors, actuators and screens. 

Seeed has a Starter Kit for the each of the major platforms, with an adapter board compatible with the platform, cables and a set of sensors. 

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This initial set can be extended thanks to modules available individually at affordable prices. The Grove modules page lists more than 100 modules, and counting! Each module has a dedicated wiki page and a library if required.

The Grove Protoshield allows to build a specific device, like this Volt-Amp-Watt-Meter.

The only caveat I've found so far is a possible confusion about voltage, as some sensors run at +5 V and others at +3.3 V only. Few to them accept both voltages.

Seeed Studio now provides a compatibility list for all the modules.
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The Grove Beginner Kit for Arduino brings an interesting option to start exploring the world of embedded systems.

The all-in-one design requires 
with no cables and no soldering. Twelve lessons explore each of the peripherals separately, with detailed and progressive explanations.
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Conclusion

The Grove system offers a great solution for fast prototyping, with a flexible and large choice of modules, and support for the most popular platforms with adapter boards.

The only point to check is voltage. Few elements run at +3.3 V and +5 V simultaneously. Most of them run at either +5 V or +3.3 V only. If powered incorrectly, the modules won't run properly in the former case, and might be damaged on the latter case. So check the voltage carefully before connecting the elements!
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Pros

  • Fast and secure plug-and-play
  • Wide range of sensors, actuators and displays

Cons

  • VCC confusion for the elements: some run at +3.3 V, others at +5 V

Wrap-Up

  • Perfect for fast prototyping
  • Modules shared across multiple platforms 
  • Rich assortment of modules

Links

  • Seeed Studio website
  • Grove modules list
  • Grove Wiki page
  • Compatibility list
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Posted:
Edited:
28 Dec 2017, 19 Aug 2020
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