Book Image

BeagleBone Robotic Projects

By : Richard Grimmett
Book Image

BeagleBone Robotic Projects

By: Richard Grimmett

Overview of this book

Thanks to new, inexpensive microcontrollers, robotics has become far more accessible than it was in the past. These microcontrollers provide a whole new set of capabilities to allow even the most inexperienced users to make amazingly complicated projects. Beaglebone is effectively a small, light, cheap computer in a similar vein to Raspberry Pi and Arduino. It has all of the extensibility of today's desktop machines, but without the bulk, expense, or noise. This project guide provides step-by-step instructions to allow anyone to use this new, low cost platform in some fascinating robotics projects. By the time you are finished, your projects will be able to see, speak, listen, detect their surroundings, and move in a variety of amazing ways. The book begins with unpacking and powering up the components.This will include guidance on what to purchase and how to connect it all successfully–and a primer on programming the BeagleBone Black. Chapter by chapter, we will add additional software functionality available from the open source community, including how to make the system see using a webcam, how to hear using a microphone, and how to speak using a speaker. We then add hardware to make your robots move–including wheeled and legged examples–as well as covering how to add sonar sensors to avoid or find objects, plus wireless control to make your robot truly autonomous. Adding GPS allows the robot to find itself. Finally the book covers how to integrate all of this functionality so that it can all work together, before developing the most impressive robotics projects: those that can sail, fly, and explore underwater.
Table of Contents (18 chapters)
BeagleBone Robotic Projects
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

A challenge


You've now built a two-legged robot, and you can easily expand this to robots with even more legs. Here is an image of the mechanical structure of a four-legged robot that has eight DOF, which is fairly easy to create using many of the parts you have used to create your two-legged robot. This is my personal favorite because it doesn't fall over and break the electronics:

You'll need eight servos, and lots of battery. If you look on eBay, you can often find kits for sale for four-legged robots with twelve DOF, but again realize that the battery will need to be much bigger. For these kinds of applications, we often use remote control (RC) batteries. These are nice, as they are rechargeable, but make sure you either purchase one that is 5 to 6 volts, or include a way to regulate the voltage. Here is a picture of this kind of battery, available at most hobby stores:

If you use this type of battery, don't forget a charger. The hobby store can help with choosing an appropriate match...