Pre-registration is available for the chipKIT Pi Expansion Board, priced at $28, which will be available in the final week of September from Newark element14 and MCM in North America, Farnell element14 in Europe, CPC in the UK and Ireland, and element14 in Asia Pacific.

element14’s chipKIT Pi Expansion Board is the world’s first to enable the development of 3.3V Arduino compatible applications for the Raspberry Pi using a 32-bit, high-performance MCU in a prototyping-friendly package. This open source tool enables users to benefit from the PIC32 MCU’s high performance, memory and integrated peripherals while using the basic hobbyist prototyping equipment that is found in most home workshops.

The chipKIT Pi can interface directly to the Raspberry Pi I/O Expansion header without any additional components, reducing both cost and design complexity. Users can also tap into the large repository of available Arduino tutorials, reference materials, curriculum and more, to create a diverse array of designs.

“The chipKIT Pi’s advanced features simplify Arduino based application development for the Raspberry Pi,” said Derek Carlson, Microchip’s vice president of Development Tools. “This new expansion board also adds large memory space, fast performance and integrated peripherals for human-interface, audio-processing and advanced-control applications.”

Claire Doyle, Global Head of Raspberry Pi, also commented: “We are delighted to partner with Microchip to develop the chipKIT Pi Expansion Board. We are excited by the board’s high level of performance, memory and integrated peripherals, which allow users to create applications with a high level of functionality while using prototyping-friendly 32-bit MCU packages.”