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Comment by ohhnoodont | Hacker News Reader

I know of a few robotics and industrial control companies that integrate RPis into their stacks. They definitely are a real industry tool. I think companies like these are where the limited supply goes.

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I have a bunch of experience on this but won't go into much detail because it may be a touchy topic: most companies that do $THING and use SBCs like the RPi are extremely talented at $THING, and not at embedded development. That's why, most of the time, they go into this ecosystem.

And I mean, it works! But it's an unsafe mess which generates a bunch of regulatory issues and it keeps me up at night :-)

I don't think it's that touchy of a subject. I feel most firms understand the a Pi should not be directly controlling machinery that can cause real harm. They shouldn't be replacing PLCs. But imagine use-cases like analytics and reporting or remote access. Or small scale devices like automated lab equipment (where the company's main $THING is biotech).

Exactly, just pretending to ignore the 80% of the market that isn't critical or safety of life and saying it's not true "embedded industry" (or True Scotsman) is just ignoring the reality.

> most companies that do $THING and use SBCs like the RPi are extremely talented at $THING, and not at embedded development.

Spot on. Rpi actually suck if you compare it to industrial automation PLCs eco-system, heck, even compared to other SBC like nvidia jetson.

> Rpi actually suck if you compare it to industrial automation PLCs eco-system

Wait, what? PLC’s and Raspberry PI’s have nothing in common surely? PLC as in thousands of dollars, Ladder logic, built like a tank and about the same size? When has a PI ever been compared to a PLC?

There are a few products that take the RPI and turn it into a PLC. Here is an example of one [0].

0 - https://revolutionpi.com/

These PLC enclosures for PI look to cost as much or more than an actual PLC. Then you have a PI inside that is not designed to handle the vibration, temperature, etc, requirements of an industrial setting right? Why would anyone want this? It just looks expensive and unreliable.

For frontend display and reporting, or cases where human life and the environment are at risk if there is a misoperation?

Yeah definitely the more auxiliary use-cases. Display and analytics, remote access and networking.

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